Infatuation or love?

I'm not sure whether any of you can relate to the following but do you remember your first crush on someone in school or someone famous you saw on TV?

Well, I am embarassed to admit it but I was one of those girls. My first crush was the boy band group New Kids on The Block (NKOTB) . I cringe at the thought now I was one those girls that drooled over them..hehehe I think the one I liked was Joey. I was only 8??!!!

The other boy band group was Take That ..although I was not as obsessed about them as some of my schoolfriends at the time. Just in case you were wondering No I didn't cry when they split up!!! But I did collect those stupid cards and even started a swapping collection with my schoolfriends...pretty lame right??!! hehehe Oh dear....

Then there were a few high school crushes on the senior guys in school which were all harmless fun to keep us all entertained during the lunch hours in school.

But then came college, uni and work life where things start to get complicated and there were periods of happiness as well as heartbreaks. I guess it is all part and parcel of life.

This brings me to my question.. How do you know when you are in love? How do you know whether it is true love or merely that you are infatuated by that person -temporary crush?

When you have a crush on someone, you are always trying to get that person's attention in the hope the feelings are mutual.
When you have that feeling of butterflies in your stomach after seeing that person can you call it true love or maybe your heart is playing tricks on you??

I think people's worst fear is the fear of rejection. It could go both ways..He can either reject you or respond back in a positive way. I guess everyone likes feeling wanted and appreciated by someone.

If things do go well, how do you maintain that loving feeling between both of you? What if he merely liked the "thrills" of chasing you in order to go out with you but that thrill goes away after you guys go out?

hmmm...I was hoping by writing this post it would make things clearer and I would be able to get some answers but I've ended up coming up with more questions than answers....