Saying “I love you” to family feels awkward the first time. It gets easier, and they keep every one.

The awkwardness is real and it is temporary. Families that do not say it out loud are not short on the feeling, they are short on practice, and somebody has to go first through the uncomfortable version. What is strange is the asymmetry: four seconds of embarrassment for you, and something a parent or grandparent thinks about for years.

Say it once this week, at the end of a call or on the way out the door, and accept that your voice may do something odd. Nobody needs it to sound smooth. If it is not said in your family at all, starting is a gift rather than a demand.