Gimme something sweet; knock me off my feet. Sock it to me, baby! Love may be divine, but a hot crush is luscious.
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Love is grand, and we'll happily proclaim its virtues. But a crush? A crush is that silly, exciting, guilty little secret we keep from our partners, husbands and girlfriends -- and even ourselves.
It's not surprising: Whether it's a harmless celebrity fixation (daydreams about Matthew Fox are commonly reported by viewers of Lost) or obsessive thoughts about that cute guy at work, having a crush on someone other than your beloved when you're in a relationship is the type of romantic complication that's hard to square with popular ideas of love and commitment-straying thoughts wouldn't make it into the margins of sappy soulmate-athon.
But a touch of reality in the idealized realm of romance proves useful: It takes the shame out of what is simply a natural expression of the human heart, mind and biology -- they don't call it chemistry for nothing.
Dr. Pepper Schwartz, a sociologist based in Seattle, agrees -- and she isn't just working on theory here. A few years ago, the author of was in the throes of an email-based crush with a married sociologist.
Find out if you should tell your partner about your crush on the next page ...
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