Cyran0, I just reread your post. Maybe, just maybe I've come to a conclusion. Love is universal but romantic love has an added component; lust.

For at least seven years I tried to get DH out of my heart and life. There were times I felt I hated him and wondered what the heck I even saw in him... save one thing.

We got back together five years ago and in the beginning it was touch and go. But through all the hell I've been through with him, there's no way I can get that man out of my heart... or my mind. There's still a little thrill that goes through me when he's working out in the yard without a shirt on. That same thrill is there when he comes out of the shower still wet.

When I think of my kids or grandkids, there is the same passion, NOT to be mistaken with lust mind you... but yes, I would die for any of them.

My mother's words come back to from the past. When she tried to describe her love for me, she'd say "I would throw myself in front of a raging lion before I'd allow him to touch you." The intensity, the passion and the commitment behind those words is reverberating in me right now like it has never done before.

Thank you for posing this question!