Love is Drunk - a mixed-metaphor rant

Love's the only thing I've thought of or read about since I was knee-high. That's what I always dreamed of, of meeting somebody and falling in love. And when that remarkable thing happened, I was going to recite poetry to her for hours about how her heart's an angel's wing and her hair the strings of a heavenly harp. Instead I got drunk...
-From the film Barbary Coast, 1935

i love love. love is intoxicating. we feel drunk when in love. other things matter less. we suddenly aren't alone. we have someone else to think about, someone to say goodnight to, and someone to call up first thing in the morning. we feel attractive, desired and special. we get excited at trying to describe how attractive, desired and special our partner is - thinking of wonderful words, evocative adjectives and magnificent metaphors to heap upon our beloved. they make us feel special and we want them to feel special too. we forget about our inhibitions. we stop trying to protect ourselves from getting hurt or disappointed. we lower the barriers and open up, sharing personal stories and feeling a willingness to confront problems, think about things, grow and change - to be better for ourselves but also for the person we love.

but love disappears. and then comes the hangover. horrible, overwhelming, immobilizing hangover. we know it's coming. there's no avoiding the pain. the love is so intense and desirable that we jump in, head first, without any care for how shallow the water might be or what rocks we may hit on the way down. being in love is described as a process of "falling" (we "fall" in love) and when the love ends there's no surprise or secret to where we end up - at the bottom, having fallen, been beat up and injured. we take the leap with full knowledge of what will happen but it doesn't stop us - the fall is amazing, exhilarating, life-altering. so what if we end up hitting the ground? we pick ourselves up, get right back on the horse and find the other fish in the sea.

it's no one's fault but it's still annoying and sad to have to start fishing again.