About Love

Are you in love?

What is the difference between “having a crush” on someone and falling in love?

You think you’re falling in love. You’re really attracted to a certain person. But this has happened before, and it was just a “crush”. How can you tell if it’s real this time? Here’s what our reader said:

• You’ll find yourself talking to or telephoning the person for no reason. (You might pretend there’s a reason, but often there’s not.)

• You’ll find yourself bringing this person into every conversation. (“When I was in Mexico --, “a friends begins. You interrupt with, “my boyfriend made a great Mexican dinner last week.)

• You might suddenly be interested in things you used to avoid. (“When a woman asks me to tell her all about football, I know she’s fallen in love,” said a TV sport announcer.)

Ok, so you’ve fallen in love. But falling in love is one thing, and staying in love is another. How can you tell, as time passes, that you’re still in love? If you stay in love, your relationship will change. You might not talk as much about the person you are in love with. You might not call him or her so often. But this person will nevertheless become more and more important in your life.

You’ll find that you can yourself with this person. When you first fell in love, you were probably afraid to admit certain things about yourself. But now you can be totally honest. You can trust him or her to accept you just you are. Falling in love is great—staying in love is even better.