This is dead on. The first one hit me like a ton of bricks. One of the reasons my marriage failed was my husband NEVER told me he loved me. His take was that he married me. Shouldn’t I just KNOW he loved me. It was horrible never hearing it. When we divorced, he tried to convince me I was just needy and insecure. Nope. When you wrote that, it was immense and beautiful validation. Thank you!