First time when i fall in love!!

[Hippobatman]

Well... I easily get crushes I guess, but I'm careful about persuing them, 'cause they usually end after a month or so. If I were to get involved with someone and then lose interest after a month, I'd be a jackass, and I'm not... I think.

I've got one now actually, but I think this might last for a bit. It's complicated though, I think she likes me, but it's damn hard to get any sort of signal that confirmes it.
why aren't you girls able to send signals that I can interpret? And don't say it's me who's the problem, I'm in deep denial

 

[Molikroth]

I've never had a "crush" or relationship outside being friends. My male friends had to point out to me that female ones were interested in further stuff - I.E. one particular girl swapping seats with my usual neighbour in every class we shared. I thought she just wanted help with the work...

I'm not opposed to the idea of "love", I just haven't thought about it.

EDIT: Seventeen, located in Glasgow.

 

[curlycrouton]

Love is nothing more than having a friend you can bang.

Utterly, completely wrong.

 

[Sccye]

I've been in two serious relationships and loved both people very deeply. There's been a handful of other crushes and shorter relationships, but none of them especially serious.

The first of those was when I was 16 and lasted until I was 18 or so and made messy by religion on both sides (Combine repression of sexuality with raging hormones on both sides, but dominantly mine. You get the picture.). We met in church when I was practising the organ, got chatting, we got quite close and then ended up going out 6 months later. It lasted about a year and a half in total and eventually disintegrated for a lot of different reasons.


The second relationship I'm currently in and have been for over a year now and are looking towards getting a place together in London next year once I graduate. We met at uni and got together pretty soon after we got to know eachother properly and fell head over heels for eachother within the space of a few weeks.

As for love as a general concept, I don't think it's possible to ever finitely identify your reasons for loving someone, because it's not a rational thing. You could list 10 million reasons why you should or could, or why a relationship would work really well, but if you don't have that intangible spark or attraction, then it just won't happen. You might have reasons for liking someone, but like or lust doesn't always turn to love (And love is quite hugely distinct from infatuation or the falling in love at the beginning of a relationship.). Love is, by my definition, a state of mutual respect and willingness to sacrifice anything and everything for that other - existing as both individuals and a pair intertwined on every possible level, sharing every possible dream, hope and thought.

For interest, and because some others have already mentioned it, I'd like to draw attention to the Greek distinction between different kinds of love (Which exist in harmony rather than mutual exclusion). Eros, Philios, Agape and Storge. Eros is love as being 'in love' (Not necessarily linked with sexuality, however), Philios the bond between friends and like-minded individuals and Storge the love shared between family members. Agape is a different thing that has primarily theological significance for Christians in describing their view of God's love for mankind. The first three are sometimes helpful to think about when discussing a concept as complicated as love with so limited a word.

 

[Raven28256]

I've had one crush and three girlfriends. The crush was a childhood friend of mine, but I have long, long since moved on. Actually, she is getting married pretty soon.

My first girlfriend was in my Freshmen year in high school. We were together for a good seven months, and got along very well. But then her dad got a transfer so she had to move and didn't really want a long distance relationship (I didn't particularly want one either) so we broke up. We also sorta lost touch. I still wonder from time to time how she is doing.

My second one was a girl I had a bit of a crush on, even while dating my first girlfriend (Though I would never cheat). She was about a year older than me, whereas my crush and first girlfriend were a few months younger than me. I asked her out and we dated for about a month...Then I started to learn what she was really like. You know the sluts that guys pass around at parties? She was one of them. Turns out that, in that month we were together, she banged about 14 other guys. She was one of those sluts who craves sex with pretty much everything that has a penis...I think she was up to about 60 one night stands when I stopped talking to her, and about 14 instances of having "fuck buddies," if you get my meaning...And she was 16 at the time. Needless to say, I broke up with her in disgust and started avoiding her. Luckily, I never had sex with her, the risk of STDs is strong with that one...

My last girlfriend is my current one. We got together shortly after I left Ms. Sperm Dumpster, towards the middle of my Sophomore year, so we've been together almost four years, I'd say, give or take a few months. She is exactly one month younger than me. We want to get married after we both finish college.