Average Length of Being in Love?

I read this interesting blog today in which the author/blogger quoted some statistics that she read elsewhere -- "experts said that the actual time of being in love is only one year and eight months." That's a statement, a very scientific one at that. That's just like saying, "the incubation time of AIDS is 7 years." It's a precise length of time, not even an average.

An intriguing question is: how did these so-called experts (and who are these experts anyway?) determine whether someone is "in love"? I'd think that the only way to scientific determine whether an individual is in love is to meaure his/her brain chemistry. But since that is unheard of, I am going to assume that we are not yet able to do that. So they arrived at this startling conclusion basing solely on self-reports?

Once I've been asked the question of when I fell in love with my husband (during the course of dating). I didn't have an answer for that; I still don't. Is it even possible to pinpoint that? It's not exactly like catching the flu -- "Oh, I got it some 2-3 days ago from this guy who was sitting next to me." Better yet, how do you even defined what is being "in love."

One year and eight months? That was by far the strangest remark I've ever came acrossed. (Completely irrational statements such as "God showed Himself in front of me on a grilled cheese sandwich/potato chip/fence in my backyard" not withstanding.)

I couldn't help but wonder how they arrived at that figure. One year and eight months? So what do you call couples who've been married for thirty years and still hold hands when they go out? Did they really only stay in love for one year and eight months, and then stayed together the rest of the time for reasons other than "real love"? How odd! And how sad!