Michael R --

Personally, I don't believe that that "loss of emothional balance" is absolutely necessary for romantic love. Hormone shifts are but one (perhaps common, but nonetheless only one) key that unlocks that door.

While I was thinking about writing this piece (about the same time I started this thread) I asked my dad what it was like when he and mother "fell in love", and he responded: "We didn't, really. We just realized one day that we got along really well and decided to make it permanant."

(and it was permanent -- a true "Till death do us part" marriage that lasted thirty years... And it was a romantic union, too. I remember several occasions when I would come into a room and find them kissing or dancing together to the radio).

Maybe that's one reason why I haven't experienced that "head over heels" (though, actually, that should be "heels over head") sensation... it wasn't an emotional model that was demonstrated for me when I was young.