True love or true lust?

Recently I've been watching a lot of dramas and movies. I know I should be doing work but I can't stop. But have you ever wondered why people actually watch them? There are many reasons but i think it's because they let us dream, they let us dream about finding true love.

Most happenings in romantic comedies are unrealistic. How likely is it that you are on a bike and get hit by a speeding car whose owner didn't see you because he was picking up his phone that dropped under the seat and you end up hating each other but only to find yourself deep in love later on after 'coindentally' meeting him a million times and accidentally discovering his inner self and feelings and you end up living happily ever after. See how unlikely it will be for that to happen in real life?

So lately I've been thinking, is there really true love in the world? Or is everything just lust? People do fall in love but it's not long before they get sick of each other. They then either break up or if they have children they become 'family' and develop family love, which is kind of hard to explain. But I do believe many parents at the age of 40 would not be 'in love' with each other. They are just comfortable in each other's presence and are very used to the life and bonds they shall with the other person.

I want to believe though that some couples stay in love throughout their whole lives. Even if they have children and develop family love, they will still retain those feelings they had when they first started dating. Is that possible?

So here's another one of my billions of questions - how do you know when you are in love? How do you know it's not just lust? I researched online and here are the symptoms:

1. The world seems a better place
2. In the absence of the person, you might lie down in bed thinking fondly about him/her, and it only seems like a few minutes when in reality you might have spent more than an hour. And to top it all, you are not even tired of thinking so much. On the other hand, a day in the absence of that person might seem extra-ordinarily long.
3. In true love, flaws are accepted without complaints and if necessary, compromises are consciously made.
4. Your happiness does not seem complete until you have shared it with your beloved. You do not think twice about compromising on your needs, if you feel the needs of your partner are not fulfilled.
5. You never get bored of the person even after several years of knowing each other. Everyday, you can talk and chatter and never run out of words, or grow tired listening. You know everything about him/her and yet he/she continues to amuse you.

I think that almost all of these points can apply to some of my closest friends. But they are all girls. Does that mean I'm in love with them? :( See, that's what gets me confused.

Let me know if you have seen or experienced true love before. So then I can live in the comfort of knowing it actually exists in the world and not just dramas and movies. :)