I love you

I have a friend who always says I love you before ending our phone conversations. This has been a pet peeve of mine for a long time. I went to a very artsy college and there were a bunch of girls who practiced this free love verbal diarrhea. One in particular also faked being a lesbian for a while and to be honest I was scarred. I grew so jaded about the whole "I love you" situation I began reserving the term only for boyfriends and family. 

Of course I have a great group of friends and I do "love" them but there aren't many occasions that warrant saying it and simply ending a mundane conversation certainly isn't one of them. When you over use a word like love it begins to loose it's meaning. Now my friend is a very sincere person and I would like to believe that they reserve using it for only their closest friends; nevertheless, when I'm out with friends and someone gets a phone call that ends with an I love you I almost always assume that they're talking to their respective love interests. Conversely, it's very strange when I'm out with a friend and I get a call and answer and it ends with an "I love you" and they ask "oh how's he doing?" rightfully assuming I'm talking to my boyfriend and instead I have to explain it's just a girlfriend who's confused about appropriate times to use the "L" word.  

I recently watched Beauty and the Beast and a beast almost died because someone wasn't quick with the "I love you." I have a friend who's been in a very long-term relationship and sadly her boyfriend won't say he loves her. Although I believe he does it's created a number of problems for them both. The bottom-line is I love you means a lot of different things to different people but to me it should not be a substitute for a simple good bye.