i love you

Hi Nate, There's nothing like having an older YF tell you "I love you" without being prompted to say it. And this "love" is very special. You already shared with us that you doubt he even has sexual thoughts -- even 3of4 seems to think this. So, D3's saying "I love you" means something even greater than an expression of any fleshly kind of love could mean. I would take it as a very beautiful "thank you for all you've done for me" and "thank you for being there for me as a friend and brother in the Lord." I had a 14-year old YF who said "I love you" without my saying anything, and that is how I took it. Young people often have a difficult time expressing their feelings thru words -- they want to tell you "thank you for all you've done and the comfort you give me by being my friend" and it comes out "I love you" instead. And they do love you. It's not easy for a teenager to tell an adult, "I love you." When they do say it, it should be taken seriously. There is thought behind it. When my YF was 7, 8, 9, and 10 -- he told me "I love you" much more often, but when he was 11, 12, 13, 14 -- he said it less often. But you know what? It meant more to me when he was older and knew why he was saying it. It also meant a lot when he was 13 or 14 and still wanted to hug me every few months. It didn't happen often, but when it did, I knew he meant it. And like you, Nate, my YF and I did a lot of fun things together when he was younger that he barely remembers now. I remember a lot of specifics from those days -- even entire conversations that we had, but all he remembers is that I was there for him, if he remembers anything at all. But that is also important -- that he remembers you being there for him when he was a lot younger. My main YF is 16 now. And, I'm sure like you, I look forward to the day he is older and I can tell him what I remember of him when he was much younger... and maybe, as an adult, he will understand the significance of my relationship to him when I was the adult in his life and he was just a boy. I expect to see more fruit from our relationship in the future once he becomes older and is able to more fully understand the importance of the role I played in his life. Maybe he'll play an important role in a young man's life as I did in his. And then the day will come when a boy tells him "I love you" and he will remember the day he told you the same. Then he'll know what it was all about.