The FLOWER of LOVE is the ROSE

“The flower of love is the rose. After three days all the petals fall off and you're left with an ugly, prickly thing.”

Love starts with lust which can last a few hours, a few days or a few weeks. Next comes infatuation which lasts, on average, 3 to 12 months before attachment takes over. When the blinding cocktail of hormones subsides after a year or so, we now see our partner in the cold light of day and those little habits we found so endearing at first, begin to become irritating.

Once you thought it was cute that he could never find things in the fridge, but now it makes you want to scream. He used to love hearing you talk about every little thing but now he's contemplating murder. You silently ask yourself, "Can I live like this for the rest of my life? What do we have in common?" (Allan & Barbara, 2001)