A love a lifetime (Part I)

Over beer and dinner the other night with the girls from the office, conversation meandered to the topic of love (predictable huh? bunch of girls can't possibly be talking about which engine's better turbo or NA right?).

T, who's been married for 2 years now, expressed that she's a hardcore cynic when it comes to the idea of "forever love", that it is possible for romantic love to be present at all times in a marriage. Her viewpoint was seconded by K, who was due to be married in a few months.

As I gathered my courage to sum up a rebuttal that on retrospect seems to border on naivety, I could only make my case that bit more solid by citing my personal experience as an observer in my parents' marriage - at no point have I ever noticed the absence of romantic love. In response to my opinion, K & T acknowledged that their parents too now hold hands and "lovey-dovey", but T explained her theory that as children are added to the equation of marriage, the feelings and attachment shared between the couple mutate to something that resembles more of obligation and kinship, particularly from the birth of the child until his/her teens, and then into something more of companionship... I did not probe further whether it could simply the nature of love that has changed, but love exists, only in a different form?