“I love you!” I said softly to Ginny.

She looked up, “I love you too!”

“I love you more!” I smiled.

Our little ritual would go on all day. “I love you! I love you more!”

In the first months of our relationship, I always loved her more.

“Wait a minute!” Ginny said one day. “How come you always get to love me more? It’s not fair! I want to be able to love you more.”

We created a schedule. I get to love her more on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Ginny has Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. We split Sunday in half. We each have equal time to love each other more. Every time I speak to Ginny on the phone, look into her eyes, or hold her, we speak our words of love, with one loving the other more. It has been this way since we’ve been together. I get confused sometimes, forget what day it is, and say, “I love you more.”

Ginny is quick to respond, “No way! It’s my day! I love you more!”

A few weeks ago, Ginny and I had our grandkids for the weekend. They were running around, playing, laughing, and crying. They did all the things young children do. They kept us busy for two days.

On the second night, after they went to bed, Ginny and I were sitting on the sofa exhausted. She was on her computer; I was on mine. I looked up, “Ginny, I love you!”

She turned to me, smiled, and replied, “I love you more!”

“No! It’s my day! I love you more!”

We both smiled. She slid across the sofa and into my arms. I held her and realized, we had not voiced words of love all day. The boys kept us so busy, we didn’t even take the time to say, “I love you.”

It has been a long time since Ginny and I have had young children in our home. I asked myself, “How many couples start out with love and promise in their future? How many couples started out saying, ‘I love you!’ And ‘I love you more!’ And later, when life got busy, forgot to say it? How many marriages have ended, because couples forgot to take a moment from their busy lives to say, ‘I love you!’?”

The weekend alone with our grandchildren made us both realize, we need “our” time. Every couple needs “their” time. We need time, if only a few minutes a day, to say, “I love you!”

If you love someone, please take a moment to say it. You’re heart will swell saying it and burst when you hear it in return.

Michael T. Smith mtsmith@qwestonline.com