help! the l-word?
for those of you who are happily settled in romantic relationships with life-partners:
how big a deal was saying 'i love you' the first time? did you ever say it? did it occur to you that it was a big deal? did you bypass it as sapped of all meaning and express yourself some other way instead? was there ever, like, a mutual confession, and if so, do you think of it as a milestone, or does it blend in because really, in retrospect, you both knew it already anyway?
(i have only my one, personal experience to draw from, and
wax_jism and i differ wildly in our use of the 'love' word. i don't know how realistic basing myself on that is. fictional!BM and RFM are not like me. they are more the hallmark-card-buying sort of person, so i need a more representative sample.)
how big a deal was saying 'i love you' the first time? did you ever say it? did it occur to you that it was a big deal? did you bypass it as sapped of all meaning and express yourself some other way instead? was there ever, like, a mutual confession, and if so, do you think of it as a milestone, or does it blend in because really, in retrospect, you both knew it already anyway?
(i have only my one, personal experience to draw from, and

no subject
are you still long-distance?