Loving someone is the same as being "In Love"...

When I was a wee lass, I was often perplexed by comments that various adults would make where they would draw a distinction between loving someone and being "in love". I recall asking my mother about this on a few occasions, probably after reading something or watching some cheesy TV program or something like that. The usual explanation from her was that when I was older and met "Mr. Right" and fell "in love", I'd then know the difference.

Now that I'm about a billion years older...I'm calling that a 'heap-o-tosh'. If you love someone, you love them, period. There is no distinction between loving your grandmother, your siblings, parents, friends, romantic interests and so on. Where there *is* a difference is in various "body chemicals" our bodies produce, with dopamine being one of the relevant ones as its a "pleasure" chemical.

When we "fall in love" with a new romantic interest, the major difference between "normal" love emotions, the type of emotion we feel for platonic relationships is...sexual lust. That intense, sometimes almost overwhelming, all consuming, 24/7, giddy and happy feeling, is indeed caused by a 'chemical' change in our minds and bodies, but its due to the excitement of having a "new" relationship, and the sex factor. People sometimes talk about how, after a time, a few months or years, the "spark" has gone out of their marriage, and the presumption is that the love is gone, they've fallen "out" of love with each other, but I think nothing could be further from the truth, and its a disservice for people to perpetuate this myth. Familiarity, challenges that can come from jobs, careers, kids, work, chores, family, health issues, aging and a myriad of other things tend to dominate our time, energy and so much of our lives, that "new car smell" wears off and people start looking around, eyes wandering, questioning hearts, wondering if the grass is greener on the other side of the hill, and relationships stagnate or are broken.

At the risk of being redundant, people should not confuse matters of the heart with matters of the flesh. I've used that phrase as it can relate to alternative relationships (cuckoldry, swinging etc) but its also applicable to "vanilla" relationships as well. You don't fall "out" of love with your mother, father, sister or brother, you love them once, you always will. You might not be able to stand being around them, you might have an estranged relationship, but you still love them. I think the same applies to relationships where sex is involved. People grow apart, perhaps end up realizing they are not compatible in a lifelong sense, but still have love for each other. That shouldn't be confused with a reduction in sexual lust, those chemical rushes that happen in the early stages of a romantic tryst, when people are groping, sucking and fucking all the time, in the car, the laundry room, outside, by the side of the road, in the back seats of movie theaters and cars, getting their "mile high" club patches, and just generally being disgusting perverts all over the damn place, lol.

Or, I could be wrong.

Insomniac late night reflections and all that.

But that's my opinion.

I am unanimous in it.

And I'm not wearing pants. :)

Temple of Samut Prakan in Thailand.

Someone pointed their telescope at the Phoenix Nebula for 12 hours to capture this.

Rare aerial view of the ‘I Love Lucy’ show set in the 1950s.

An example of "good" in humanity from a super small Indiana town...incredible acts of compassion and charity from people of all races and religions. Its almost like people come from all over the world, and we blend together, sort of like a..."melting pot". One planet, one race, the human race. :)