Speaking for myself, I have noticed a lot of negative energy directed toward couples who have been together for a long time. Although a couple's relationship is taken more seriously the longer they've been together, it seems that the longer a couple has been together, people start saying things regarding love and emotions fading away. The "Honeymoon Phase" is over and the spotlight that had previously been on the new budding relationship has turned off to another new couple.

I've been told countless times before that it's fascinating that after 2 years, it's shocking that my boyfriend and I still act like we just got together. We still act playful and laugh and we bicker, but rarely argue.

June 1st, 2017 marked two years since my boyfriend and I said "I love you" for the very first time. In that time, we have probably said those three little words thousands of times. You'd think that after this long, they would lose their meaning. There are times when I find those words leaving my lips without even meaning to say them and saying them out of habit. One might think that after 2 years of saying "I love you" to the same person over and over, probably at least 20 times a day, that it would lose its spark and get boring, but that is the complete opposite (I know, I was surprised too). Within 2 years, we have not only said "I love you", but we have worked together every single day to give it a new meaning.

There are days when it is the easiest thing in the world to tell him that I love him. Some days, it rolls off my tongue without effort. Those are the days when we're laughing under the warm sun at the park with a makeshift picnic of Taco Bell and slushies from Speedway and posting on social media how happy we are — the days everyone sees and the way the judge our relationship from the outside. On those days, "I love you" comes from our lips every few moments on impulse and echoes off our tongues following laughter and kisses in the grass. But not every day is that easy.

Some days are rainy and "I love you" isn't necessarily difficult to say, but my tongue feels like it's been dipped in lead and sharpened for battle. On these days, harsh words and wrong doings of the past are much easier to speak of than the love we have for one another. The days we fight and argue, "I love you" may not come out in words but in choosing not to continue an argument and recognizing when we may have taken it too far. On the days our lips are more prone to yell than laugh and speak of our love, "I love you" comes out in silent embraces and choosing to discuss what may have caused our disagreement, then coming together as one and saying "I love you" and remembering how it felt to say those words for the very first time. On the days it's easier to argue than admit we're wrong, we remind ourselves how lucky we are to argue and why we still come back as one after each disagreement, then say "I love you" with the same passion we did as when we said it on June 1, 2015.

I have been told that it is a miracle that my boyfriend and I are still together but that the "Honeymoon Phase" is over. After 2 years of being in the same relationship, I can conclude that the "Honeymoon Phase" lasts as long as you let it and that, in my minimal experience, I have found that the secret to making love last is finding a new reason to say "I love you" every single day.

"I love you" means more to my relationship now than ever not because we have said it thousands and thousands of times, but because we have discovered thousands of reasons to say it.