Love?

Hey friends,

I was thinking deeply last night as I lay in my bed: what is love? When do I know when someone loves me? Is it simply when someone says I love you? Is it when someone does something for you when you least expect it? Is it when there is chemistry between two that its love? What is love anyway?

The dictionary defines love as:

1. A deep, tender, ineffable feeling of affection and solicitude toward a person, such as that arising from kinship, recognition of attractive qualities, or a sense of underlying oneness.

2. A feeling of intense desire and attraction toward a person with whom one is disposed to make a pair; the emotion of sex and romance.

3. An intense emotional attachment, as for a pet or treasured object.

4. A person who is the object of deep or intense affection or attraction; beloved. Often used as a term of endearment.

I mean, sure love means all those things, but when can I know that it is love for me, personally. I finally came to the conclusion just before I drifted off to sleep. For me, I can know that somone loves me when that someone is ready to lay down her/ his life for me. I think that is the greatest act of love that someone can perform to show one's love for someone else. I am not asking for everyone to lay down their life, but I think when you come to an understanding with a friend, wife, husband, brother, sister or anyone else, to the point where you know the other person is ready to lay down their life for you, that is when you can know the other person loves you!

In other words: sacrificial love!

Any thoughts?

Mansur