LOVE is where you love someone who is a part of your life. This may be a parent, child, sister or uncle. You may hate their guts and not like them at all. You may have no respect for them. It could simply be that there is a tie with the past or you are related. There may be people who you love who you could easily never see again because they are more trouble than they are worth or do not bring any joy into your life.
LOVE is where you have a friend who you care about, someone that you like to spend time with and whose company you value. You love someone who is a part of your life for good or for bad. With some of these people you have no choice. With others you are glad. The love you feel for a friend is very different to romantic love. It is more laid back, less urgent, less intense and serious. ‘Ordinary’ love comes and goes many times in a whole lifetime. You may feel this love for dozens of people and love a dozen people equally at one time.
ROMANTIC LOVE is where you have feelings of lust, passion and romance for the person, and are in love with them rather than just loving them. You feel special when with them. They are the person you wish to revolve your life around and spend the most time with. You place them head and shoulders above the others you love because this love is a very special love, superior to the ordinary loves.
You would maybe wish to make plans to be married to or live with the one you feel romantic love for. You would not be interested in marrying someone you love but are not in love with. Romantic love, when it is the real thing, is rare. You feel it once or up to a handful of times in a whole lifetime.
When the one you are romantically in love with is busy or away or you argue it hurts. You feel pain. You want to see them again as soon as possible. If you have had a disagreement which has caused a rift you wish to make up the argument soon and make sure that everything is fine between you. Sometimes just being away from this person can physically hurt you, because you miss them so much.
Romantic love is difficult to put your finger on because it includes passion and lust yet it may not include like or respect. Look at the number of people who claim they love their partner yet they are treating them badly or being mistreated by them. Two people who are in love with each other usually treat each other well but it is not unusual to find that one loves the other but does not have their feelings reciprocated. In which case they are probably wasting their time.
