If I were to write a memoir, I think I like the working title of \u201cA Million and One Bids for Attention, Affection, and \u2018I Love You\u2019s\u201d because I think a lot of life boils down to how we ask for love and how we learn to show it.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As Jon Bellion sings, \u201cWhat if who I hoped to be was always me? \/\/ And the love I fought to feel was always free? \/\/ What if all the things I’ve done \/\/ Were just attempts at earning love?…\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Now I have had some of the absolute best mentors, coaches, and cheerleaders in my life – people playing in the game with me, people running alongside the sidelines with me, and people redirecting me when I start heading to the wrong field goal\u2026<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But this is for my parents and the many ways they have shown love to me.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n My mom and dad say they love me when\u2013after I asked for some extra quarters from home to do laundry\u2013they dig through their whole coin collection to bring me a (massive) gallon-size bag full of them. I hold all of these \u2018I love you\u2019s close to my heart, just like I learned to do when someone blows a kiss – grab it and keep it close to your chest.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n So I grab them. And try to remember them. They\u2019ve shown me 101+ ways to say \u2018I love you\u2019. I\u2019ve been listening, and I hope they\u2019ve heard my \u2018I love you, too\u2019s.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Julia Paschal If I were to write a memoir, I think I like the working title of \u201cA Million and One Bids for Attention, Affection, and \u2018I Love You\u2019s\u201d because I think a lot of life boils down to how we ask for love and how we learn to show it.\u00a0 As Jon Bellion sings, Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":0,"parent":25,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-full-width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-169","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/18-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/18-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/18-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/18-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/18-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/18-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":808,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/18-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/169\/revisions\/808"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/18-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/25"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/18-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nMy dad says he loves me when he learned the Starbucks language to order my favorite drinks.
\nMy mom says she loves me when she hangs on for a couple seconds too long in a goodbye hug.
\nMy mom and dad say they love me when they drive four hours on a random Tuesday night to watch me perform improv.
\nMy dad says he loves me when he asks about the tire pressure of my car in the winter, the oil level in my car every couple of months, and how the car\u2019s running whenever I make a visit home.
\nMy mom says she loves me when she texts me gifs throughout the day [actually, my mom says she loves a lot of people that way].
\nMy mom and dad say they love me by sending me a jumbo bear through the mail after a breakup.
\nMy dad says he loves me when he leaves a voicemail and signs off with \u201cpapa bear\u201d.
\nMy mom says she loves me by having cookies and flowers delivered to my apartment. [I mean, it says it was from both of them\u2026 but we know ;^) ]
\nMy mom and dad say they love me when they bring champagne and a big-head-cutout and a poster for people to sign as a way to celebrate the (big) little things.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n