Remember the days when your playground crush would brush your hand accidentally and send shivers up your arm? Or when you'd accidentally call a meetup with your close friend of the opposite sex a "date" and blush red as a tomato? Remember accidentally realising the strange allure of the opposite sex and having little to no idea what to do about it? Yeah, it was pretty easy back then. You knew the exact feeling of butterflies in your stomach, the flutter of nerves, the dryness in the back of your throat, the math lessons spent distractedly staring at their hair, and it seems so soft, yes it does.
According to the NIS, your senses dull with age. With age, things get complicated. The mind does not age like a fine wine, the mind ages like overripe fruit. In my life, I will lose much more than I have gained so far. This is the same with love. I can't say I've felt innocent love in a very long time, love made of butterflies and sweeping touches and tiny cherubs dancing on harp strings. But I've never felt this kind of like either. The essence of falling in like is exploiting potential.
Your sense of like, y'know, that sharp feeling of affinity for an object of your desire? We've all liked someone; assuming the feeling of like is described as being attracted to someone without knowing enough about them to love them yet. Love is a commitment. It's a designation of your time, energy, and loyalty to a single person "til death do us part", and goddamn, is that a big decision. At first, one falls in love with the ideal of a perfect partner, free of flaws or substance. Later, one falls in love not with an ideal partner, but one that's simply good enough. And that's okay, too. Falling in like is just feeling affinity towards someone who you consider good enough for now.
This St. Valentine's day, I am falling in like.