Sorry we're bombing your thread, Paul, but since there's some doubt emerging in the thread about love, I've got to defend it!
"Romantic love" is what we see in movies and read in books. A fantasy, a daydream, mirage. We can experience it, but it might fade.
True love is a phenomenon that suddenly just happens; there's chemistry, a magnetism that logic can't explain. A pull and a need to find out. If we're honest and brave enough to meet the challenge as our true selves, we might get lucky and find true, lasting companionship. Where both are free to be 100% themselves and to morph into their next-selves. Where there's genuine curiosity to how the other sees things, and willingness to share, even if it's scary. Openness and acceptance to the said morphing (growing). And silly times, etc etc., but true love, yes.
It's a strange thing, it seems to go away when we're looking for it, and then it ambushes us when we least expect it
