What is Love?

LOVE. That 4 letter word... cherished by many, despised by others. So, what is it? Why is it that saying that word can bring up so many different emotions inside each of us?
LOVE. Let me tell you a little bit about love. Is it those butterflies you get when you see that hottie walk through the door of your class? Is it that tingly sensations that surges through your whole body when that hottie holds your hand?
I, personally, do not believe that's love. Hear me out... or a better way to say that is I don't personally believe that's real love yet. Those are steps that can lead to love. My proposition is that LOVE comes from a lot of things a person does and ways you act with each other that you like. I'm still a hopeless romantic, don't get me wrong. But I don't believe that you can fall in love with a person at "first sight." Rather, I'd like to phrase that initial falling as "falling in liking with them..." ya feel?
The point I'm getting at, is that true love, the deep real stuff we see in our parents and older married couples we know, has grown and been nourished for a long time. That love is the real love that we all strive for. It's the love that's portrayed as something that can just happen within two characters over the span of a 2 hour movie, however in reality it's much much more than that. True love is made up of a lot of different components: mutual respect, responsibility for one another, deep care, and care for the other's well-being to name a few.
This kind of "love" we're talking about is one that is not changed within the course of a few hours, whether over a fight, distance, etc. No, this love is enduring, deep connection that's been built between two people because of the things they've faced and took on together.
After all, which love would you consider most valuable? One in which you find the other person very attractive, feel good when they hold your hand and kiss you, and yep that's pretty much it... or rather, would it be the type of love that you feel comfortable, respected, and deeply cared about? (And at that level, you'd still get the lovely hand holding and goodnight kisses from each other)... So, which one's the winner?
I feel that LOVE is often such an overused term in our society. Don't get me wrong... I'm not saying that it's not important to love those around us & find reason to care for them and love them. But, I am saying that particularly in relationships, premature love is too often mistake for mature love, and finding someone simply attractive is way too often the only thing keeping a relationship together.
That's not how it should be! At all!
Love comes from a deep sense of self respect, respect for your significant other, and honestly just time. Love takes time! It takes time to get to dig into their past and lives (without over bearing them on the first date... because trust me I've had that. And yeah, that ain't love). It takes time to really begin to understand the person and get to know them: Their different quirks, personality, way they laugh, things they find funny or embarrassing, the whole shebang really. LOVE takes TIME.
Once you do have that solid basis of a friendship first, too, that's when true love can grow. You don't need to base a relationship solely off of the physical stuff, because that will wear out a relationship like no other. People grow, our bodies change, and reality hits. You need to have a solid relationship with a person whom you can go through your day-to-day crazy activities with, and then sit down with each other and just be able to talk like best friends. Someone whom you can share your deepest desires, concerns, worries, and goals... because you know that they'll listen to you and get you. They'll understand you completely, and you'll understand them completely.
Love takes time. It takes complete commitment and fidelity to one another. It takes mutual respect and care. It takes deep concern for the well-being of the other person. That, to me, is what true love is... and nothing can ever compare to the greatness and happiness it can bring you and your significant other.