Love?

I've been curiously wondering lately, when do you know you're in love? When does having a crush become being in love? I've been talking to someone for over a year and I can't think of anyone else other than him. He's on my mind when I wake up, throughout the day I smile when I think of him and when I go to sleep I look at his picture before settling comfortably into my bed. He's that guy that I compare all other guys to at random during the day. I imagine events with him, days with him and handling stupid intense situations with him. I keep thinking there should be some ten step program or guideline to knowing when you're in love, I mean there's a guideline for everything else.

I have compared my other "relationships" to this one to identify any significant differences and crazily I do. I read on WikiAnswers the responses to the question, "How do you know when you're in love"...okay I realize how corny it is to even key in a question like that, but the Magic 8 Ball comes with a limited amount of answers. Anyway, one of the answers said something about that person making you want to be a better person; they inspire you. This is the first time in my life a person, especially a guy not of celebrity status, has ever done either, let alone both of those things. I knew that I really liked him and that I thought about him a lot but I could never bring myself to use the phrase in love or falling in love. Recently friends, neither of them having met him but listen to my voice and words as I speak of him, have expressed that they think I am in love. And for the first time I heard myself say I wasn't out of shire fear. I thought, can fear make us miss out on love or are we just being caution with our hearts?

I think back to school when just holding hands and being seen in the halls was a big deal and a sure sign that it was love. I hate that it isn't that easy anymore, but then again the majority of people that marry their high school sweetheart end up in divorce so clearly that wasn't love either. Is there really a true answer to the question, how do you know when you're in love or is it just one of those things you just know like knowing the way crayons taste because of how they smell. I use that comparison because I use to compare this particular restaurant's dinner roll butter to tasting like crayons although I have never even so much as licked a crayon, I just knew that would be the way they would taste. I suppose love is the same way, you just know. In that I guess it's just a feeling- perhaps of being happy or a feeling of completion. Maybe it's the thought- the idea that you think of that person more than any thing else. Or it's the belief- the thought of believing the two you can do or survive anything. The belief there is a future for the two of you. Then again maybe it's all those things compiled into one thing ultimately signifying you are in love...