Be sure to say the three little words

With apologies to my mother who first misunderstood what this column was about, I present to you a little gem I wrote for the Longmont (Colo.) Daily Times– Call in 2004.
It’s a timeless piece meant to bring warm feelings – among other things. So sit back, relax and enjoy this little flashback:
Three little words. You know them. You’ve heard them since childhood. They are the words that express how we feel to those who are closest to us. They are not words you say to just anybody. Those three little words convey a feeling you carry deep within yourself. They connote closeness. They say “you are welcome in my space, in my life as long as you can stand it.”
I don’t remember my own father saying those three little words to me, though I wouldn’t be surprised if he did. My mother to this day has never said those three little words to me, though I know how she feels about me.
I have learned to be more open and expressive with my family. I only say those three little words in jest to my wife. But they’re very meaningful to my children. When I say those three little words to my children, they know that I am expressing my joy and my pleasure with them. They feel accepted and welcome.
Contrary to popular belief, most women don’t care to hear those three little words. They don’t share in the exhilaration of the moment. It doesn’t mean the same to them. But in a man’s world – the world of a father – those are the words that bond and unite.
They’re the words that men say to each other in manly moments. They are the three little words that we long to hear from our own fathers because we hear them so little.
Those three little words spread love and make the world go round. They’re the three little words that no child should ever grow up without hearing.
Guys, please, if you haven’t said them in a while, go home tonight, gather your children or your closest buddies around and share these three little words with them: Pull my finger!
Do it today and feel the love.
But seriously folks I’ve had to kind of pull my own finger to get that one out of my system. I’ve been trying for a long time to get that bit of humor formulated in my mind and out of my head. But it leads me to a much more important message.
When was the last time you said the real “three little words” to your family? What will be the last thing you say to your spouse and children when you leave the house today?
Every time I leave my family I make sure to kiss them and tell them I love them. I always want their last memory of me to be an expression of love. You never know when you will see your loved ones for the last time.
As I walk out the door – no matter how rushed or stressed I am – I always have that warm feeling of peace in my heart and the pleasant memory of my family in my mind as I head out to work or wherever.
I don’t normally carry thoughts in my mind that I may never see my wife and children again. But I’ve been in this business long enough to have seen too many cases where people never had the chance to say I love you and goodbye. I don’t want that to be said of me.
I’ve conditioned myself to share my love with my family every chance I get. Sometimes things happen and I get angry or frustrated and I blow my top. But I always come back with love, peace and forgiveness.
Some guys have a hard time saying the words. Some guys can say it, but don’t show it. I do my best to say it and show it. It’s not always easy to do with three rambunctious boys – one with ADHD and two in the throes of the terrible twos.
But they know you love them when, after having called them the third time without response, yelling at them, applying the appropriate attention-getting measures, that you can still tuck them into bed at night, snuggle them up, kiss them on the forehead and say to them, “pull my finger!”