Hmm. I hear what a lot of you are saying. I get that we matter to others and others matter to us. I understand loving people and being sad when they go. In this particular thread of thought, I'm hung up on the word 'need' because when I talk things over with my husband about how I'm feeling or what's going on with me, he often responds to me by saying he 'needs' me and our kids 'need' me. That's what I don't get when we're talking. I love and want my husband and my kids. But I guess history has shown me that we 'need' a lot less in life than we actually believe we do. And I guess I just don't believe that any of us 'needs' one particular person in their lives, regardless of how much we want or love them.

Does that make more sense? And I'm asking about this because I hear people say a lot that they 'need' someone (hear it from friends, family, etc.). So I'm wondering if people actually believe this, or if it's a loosely used term people are substituting in the place of the words 'want' or 'love'. Or am I really missing something essential here, that people truly do feel that way about others on an individual basis?