by Tyra LaRocca

Created on: February 06, 2010   Last Updated: February 16, 2010

Love at First Sight.

Is it real, or just a universal fantasy that keeps us all looking for that perfect soul mate?

We have all heard of it, there are references to it all around.

The cinema keeps the dream alive with the always successful romantic comedy where many times boy meets girl, knows there is a connection, but proceed to wind their way through the many obstacles and failings before accepting fate's final script.

Romance novels are still ever-present stays in bookstores and libraries, luring us into the happily-ever-after world of perfect love.

Ask a random sampling of your friends and family and you will surely find at least one who admit that their relationship was indeed "love at first sight".  And it is truly heartwarming to hear the tale retold, complete with embellishments and faraway looks. Lucky them.

But more of those friends and family will say unequivocally no; no such immediate experience of love ever happened to them. But they wish it had.  Or still hope that it will. Or envy those who say they have it.

Maybe the real question is how do you define this experience of "love at first sight"? Surely we all need to start on the same page, right?

When you first meet someone, do you have to be smitten immediately- that first time? Feeling like this is THE person for you, perfect, and nobody else will ever compare?

Or could it be that there is a chemistry from the start that with time feels like a love that has always been there? Looking back makes one feel like it was immediate.

Or is it when you see someone regularly, but worship from afar, and then when you finally meet you are already in love? Could that qualify as love at first sight?

It really is a subjective definition, as much as it is a subjective, individual experience. For my purpose, then, I'm willing to accept all of these definitions as "love at first sight" as long as the person feels like that is what happened to him.

Still, this means that not that many people are lucky enough to say the fell in love with someone at first sight. Those who do may feel luckier, like they found their soul mate, and have no worries about looking elsewhere. Or maybe they fell in love 'at first sight', but didn't  stay with the person, which only renders that experience all the more mystical.

For those of us who can't say we fell in love this way, does that mean our loves are lesser, or unfulfilling? Of course not. But for some, it may keep us wondering, what if? or, could there be? Which does keep the mystery and the fantasy of "love at first sight" intact.

And someday, across a crowded room, you just may feel that zap- that gaze with another which electrifies you- that love at first sight dream. And begin your happily-ever-after.

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