Love and saying it

Words we say can sometimes lose their meaning. The word "love" can get so overused. Even if we feel it in our hearts we shouldn't be spouting it off every five minutes. In high school I thought the word to be so overused that I refused to use it. I would tell someone that I adored them if I felt such feeling and was so inclined to tell them that I more than liked them.
For three years I said "I love you" so numbly. I said it because that was what I was supposed to say. That was what I was supposed to feel.
Since then I know better than to say it when I do not feel it. For a while I thought I was incapable of feeling it or recieving it. That turned out not to be true. I am capable of it, feeling it, giving it, and recieving it.
Now I hold certain rules with the word. Don't take it for granted. Don't say it at every hello or goodbye with the one you love. Don't say it over the phone, unless there are certain circumstances. Say it when you look into the eyes of the person you love. Say it because you truely mean it.