Is love a four-letter word?

Sometimes I think people confuse love with other four-letter words: Like, want, lust and need. Not all the time, mind you, but when it’s used too quickly and nonchalantly, the word becomes an obscenity.

I want to believe in love at first sight.
I’ve met a few couples who claim they fell in love instantly, were married within weeks and are still together many years later (believing they found their true soul mate). But I’m afraid of anyone who says, “I love you” in such a short time.

How can they truly know the good, the bad and the ugly about me? How? Or has the L-word just become one of those obscenities that have become euphemistic for something less than its original meaning? Has love come to mean want or desire or like? Do people fall in love as often as they change their clothes?

Not that I don’t believe in love…
I do. I just don’t believe that someone can be in love that quickly. For me, it takes time for love to grow. It takes the good and the bad. Especially the bad. Because if we can suffer through the bad times together and still choose to be together, then we have a commitment to each other and are truly in love.

During the good times it’s easy — easy to be happy and easy to be in love with love. It’s during the bad times that we see our partners’ true colors. Will he stick by our side or catch the next caboose out of Badsville? If he’s a train-hopper, he’s confused love with lust. To him love is a four-letter word.

So before you say “I love you” and potentially scare off your mate — make sure you mean what you say!