What is the true meaning of love and being in love?

You can often think you have fallen in love but how do you know what love is? I think that I have been in love before but how do I know when I have never experienced it before.
There are so many different types of love that is hard to define which one it is when you have found that special someone.
So to put a definition to the question I asked WikiAnswers: What is the true meaning of love and being in love?
And this is the answer that I got: Love isn't blind or deaf or dumb - in fact it sees far more than it will ever tell. It is going beyond yourself and stretching who you are for someone else. Being in love entails seeing someone as you wish they were: to love them is to see who they really are and still care for them. Love isn't bitter, but you can't have love without pain: sacrifice is the hallmark of love , the coin of love.
Being in love usually is used in a romantic sense when you meet your significant other transforming a normal relationship into a deeper one without further interest in others. Love means that you trust the person, would do anything for the person, know that person is with you through thick and thin, isn't afraid to be seen with you. make sure they treat you right.