I love my child, my son, my daughter, my wife, etc. It's a long list.
What makes you love them? Their dedication to you? Their reciprocal love? The childish things that your children do, something that brightens your day? It's all true but there is also one more reason why we "fall in love", sadly none of us wants to accept it.
When we are younger, 14, 16, 18 years old, we want to become an astronaut, or a fighter pilot (Remember Tom Cruise and the Top Gun movie?), by the time we turn 20, 22, 24, we know that being an astronaut or an ace pilot is not as easy or as simple as we thought, we brush away the thought by saying "I was young and stupid back then, I didn't know anything about life, I was immature".
Aha, the good old maturity argument saves us.
Now we are Doctors, Engineers, Businessmen, CPAs, Lawyers, Computer programmers, Salesperson, still there's something inside us that says.... Come on man you weren't born for this. We make plans to be the best in our game, I will be the best Programmer (If not in the world, at-least in the company where I'm working). Now you look around and find out that you are working as an associate whereas there re managers, directors, partners sitting over you, so even being the best in there is not easy, we work hard and by doing so we gather some followers, some praise, some promotions, people around us begin to notice us but we wanted more. Still when we leave the office, we have to fight for the parking space (Hey, don't you know I'm the best computer programmer around? The best CPA? The best salesperson?). That praise that you earn by working so hard gets you monetary benefits but you wanted more, you wanted to be recognized as the best, are you? If you ever cross horns with your senior, even if you're the best, you are kicked out and told by HR, you are technically very good but your behavior is not "PROFESSIONAL", you think way too highly of you. You want to but can't shout back "I am the best that you have, those managers and partners are just sitting there all day long, while I.... I.... I work, they get praise for MY hard-work".
You learn the harsh "reality" of life, as soon as you're thrown out, your buddies from office are dead, your girlfriend is also dead (At-least for you), you are rejected by the same society that you wanted to be proud of YOU. Now your family comes in scene, they support you and tells you that you're the best (At-least for them), they help you get up on your feet again but they also expect something from you, something much more sinister than your so called buddies and girlfriend. They now want to control your life.... "Look son, you took your decisions and FAILED, finally we helped you, we want the best for you, do what we say and you will never fail again". You reluctantly agree (You're already bitter with the society, who should you look at? If not your family, who?).
Now they use their "Contacts" and get you a job, a better one, one that you never even imagined (they have life time of contacts, they know which strings to pull and get work done and most of the times, it is done). Now, you are once again respected and "Loved" by the society. People respect you (You are one of them, just like them). You get new "Buddies" and a better "Girlfriend" (Not that beautiful as earlier one but you now don't want to get hurt that bad again and so you choose the not-so-hot-and-beautiful girl). You still don't get the parking spot and have to fight for it but you at-least got back what you already had.
So, where did things go wrong? That day when you locked horns with your senior, yes that was the day. That day, you had a job, a girlfriend, lots of buddies, but you lost all of them, for what? Maybe you can recall that you wanted to prove that YOU ARE THE BEST. Now that you've got what you had lost earlier, this time you are content. You are now 30 years old, your parents are in their sixties, society wants you to get married, your friends are getting married every other day, you are the one left and so one such day............ You decide to get married too (Hurrey..... Hurrey......). You get married, your parents are happy, society loves you now, you find out that your "Better half" appreciates you for all of your strengths and weaknesses, you have loving children (You vow to give them the best opportunities possible) and while doing all of this, YOUR dream of becoming an astronaut and a fighter pilot and even the best in your surrounding is DEAD. You don't even realize when it died and who killed it. You are in love after-all, aren't you? If this is what you really want in life, good luck. If still deep inside you a fire is burning that says, I could have become the best, I had it in me, I was denied my destiny. My dear friend, it's never too late (It is only too late if you're dead, in that case, it really is late). Dare to keep some distance from your life partner (Tell her your dream, your vision, bring her on board, give time to your dream and continue your journey). Love should become your strength to charge ahead with double the strength and not the crutches that you hold on to while your dreams DIE. If you are in love only because you are afraid to follow your dream because you once failed in life, my friend..... You are not in love, you are using it as a pretext to hide from the challenge (your dream) that is in front of you, if this is why you are in love, English language has a word for you- Coward, and love is not for cowards.