Right back at you

Me: I love you.
DH: Right back at you.


My DH is a sweetheart, don't get me wrong. He's always telling me I'm cute or that he loves this and that about me and he's a total cuddle-bug, so he shows me that he loves me all the time. So why does it bother me so much that he won't say those 3 simple words. Why does "right back at you" irk me so bad?

And of course any conversation about this doesn't go so well. Because, like I said above, I know he loves me--so any complaining I want to do sounds so spoiled and childish in my head that it rarely ever gets voiced. But man! Every once in a while, those words just make me want to snarl. Am I making a big deal out of nothing?

And if it is a trivial thing, why can't he just say "I love you" if he knows it means so much to me? Maybe I tell him I love him too much? But that just seems stupid. Is it too much to say it roughly once a day? And if I feel like telling him I love him, why should I stop? He's my husband, for Heaven's sake!

It's such a nit-picky thing to get upset about...but that doesn't change the fact that I crave hearing "I love you" from his lips.