what is love?

Thank you to Haddaway for use of their song as title to this post.
I tend to think that many of us out there are not easily capable of defining love. For the purpose of this, I am referring to all kinds of love, the caveat being that both subject and object are human (I could go on a rave about how much I love chocolate and maybe some other time I will, for now I'll stick to people).

Perhaps this is something people figure out really young and I am just that far behind the times. Perhaps this is something no on figures out and I'll be a millionaire. Probably, somewhere in between. I don't yet have conciseness or really even a thesis, just some thoughts.

So, what is love? And I don't mean the actions or thoughts that a person has for someone they love. For example, when something good happens to me, there are a couple people I just can't wait to tell. Same goes for something not so good. We'll help them move, again. We'll help clean their kitchen, again. Etc. But what is it?

I think it is everything. Not that I mean to say that the Beatles were right--'All you need is love'--no, just that love is a culmination of everything.

I respect strangers. I admire leaders. I like my acquaintances. I enjoy the company of some. I, well, I could just go on. Love though is a combination of all of these things. Someone I love will be someone I respect, admire, like, enjoy, etc. They may not be the best at every category, but they are in every category. And because that is so rare, it is cherished that much more.

What we do and how we act and what we think can be different with each person this is manifested in.
I do want to add that communication is usually a good requirement. And the ability to be truthful with someone and say what you want and what you need. And to be able to be mad and know they will be there and so will you.

I know I initially said this was human-human, as I write it though, I wonder if it can be expanded to feeling beings. (again, this eliminates chocolate, darn). Take my cats for example. My young, fat one, Ryno, sometimes does some not nice things, like hits me. So I sternly tell him 'no' and he goes and pouts. Then he comes back to me and we make up and everything is ok.

Would this apply to God? Do all of these qualities I've listed and all the ones I left out, do they apply? Is it reciprocal?
I don't have a formed enough response and for now I think these work better as rhetorical questions.

If you haven't thought about really what is love, perhaps you will start and perhaps you will be able to have an ah-ha moment like I did and perhaps you will share that with someone.