Everybody is worried about H1N1. But you know what? We need to be alerting people of a much more deadly strain of the flu: Love. Stay with me. Love is so much like the flu. Take me for example. Earlier this year I had the flu.

I had all the signs of the flu. Was out for a week thinking I was dying. People felt sorry for me, stayed away from me and told me to get plenty of fluids. I even went to the doctor and they confirmed that I had the flu and should get lots of bed rest. For all intents and purposes, I had the flu. Just disgusting really.

Then a few weeks later I got the flu. No I mean I really got the flu. Couldn’t keep food down. Had a temperature of 103. Was quarantined by my doctor and told explicitly not to leave my room for any reason. Bodily aches. Out for the count for two weeks. Thought I was going to die.[1] This was the FLU.

I kept telling myself not to go towards the light.

While I was laying on my deathbed I had plenty of time to think. One thing I thought about was how this was most definitely really the flu and what I had before? There’s no way that was the flu. That was a minuscule cold compared to this. That was the sniffles. That was a little cough. That was the cooties.

So why is Love basically the most dangerous strain of the flu? We’ve all probably had our first love. You have all the signs of love. You think about him/her all the time. You can’t imagine life without them. You watch Hitch and decide that your life is identical and that you really must be in love. You lurk outside their homes and stalk them at their jobs. For all intents and purposes you’re in love. Just disgusting really.

Then a few weeks later something tragic happens. That guy/gal does something to betray your trust, talks about yo mama, gets arrested, tries to holler at your best friend, whatever, and you realize that love wasn’t as strong as you thought it was. You’re hurt and you don’t know what to do. Then a few months later, (or years, or decades) you fall in love. This is LOVE.

You share the same goals and beliefs. You pretend to like their family, they like yours. You don’t question whether or not they love you, you know it’s true. You look back and realize that thing you had before? No way that was love. Sure it sustained you for that period of time and like the flu, made everyone around you sick. But truly it couldn’t hold a flame to what you have now.

Love is like the flu. And that’s a good thing. Because when you have it, you know it.

Do you agree? Is love like the flu?What are some symptoms of true love?

[1] I have been known to overreact and be a bit of a hypochondriac but this was for real.