It means I'm not happy if you're not happy.

I say it often to my partner , and find that just those three words can be said in a variety of ways with different emphases, and it actually tells me more about myself listening to how I have said it. Sometimes playfully sometimes deeply meaningful and loving sometimes in a perfunctory way if I am for instance getting ready to go out. My partner and I don't live together and we are both retired person centred therapists - we don't often have to find ourselves in the place of protesting a love that isn't quite there yet.

Couldn't have said it better myself

It means we have a connection and a bond. It means you matter to me. It means you are part of my family, whether you're a blood relative or not. It means I'm here for you if you need me.

Love? Quite simply that if that person permanently left my life, it would be a massively traumatic event for me. I learned to put nobody's wellbeing (especially mental) ahead of my own, after suffering years of 'depression by proxy' with my ex.

If you ever find yourself on a depressurised aircraft, you sort your own oxygen mask out before anyone else's. Mental health should work much the same way.

I am admitting a trusted devotion to ‘you.’ ‘You’ have become an intrical part of my life. ‘You’re’ needs and desires are now my own… I am forfeiting a portion of myself to include ‘you’.. I want ‘you’ in my life forever ~

Ditto.

English is a funny language. We have dozens of words for kinds of weather; hell, more than a dozen just for kinds of snow. But when it comes to love we have only that one word, whether we are talking about the way you did your hair, your feelings for grandma, the gals at Hooters, or your favorite jeans. I have wondered why that is; it can't be an accident or a coincident. Something evolved that usage in us. It's not open to argument, there aren't scholars debating the finer points, Webster seems to be comfortable with it. How come? Why is that? Please comment. I shiver with antici - ............................pation.

I know the people I'm going to buy guns for now.

I agree with everything you listed.

I was about to comment, but your last sentence makes it unnecessary.

Two things: When faced with this question I wish the English language had the "Te quiero" (relative / friend) and the "Te amo" ( I love you) as Spanish does.
The second thing: When I say "I love you" to a person it doesn't mean he / she is AS important AS I am but is important TO me.....that his / her values and behavior are what I seek in those with whom I share my life.

Well Brother... you said it more clear then i could of. I agree with all of it. Thankyou for putting it out there so we could see it again.

well said.

I guess I don't use "I love you" casually.

I prefer saying directly, that someone is special to me, and my respect and high regard for them will be evident by my actions .

Loving someone is about holding them in highest regard and valuing them as someone special to you. At least that is what I mean when I tell someone I love you.