Why I have to damp my feelings for Warin? (gently teasing) *You* try walking around with a heavy weight on your chest and while being whacked with a blue whale. I damp it because it's so strong that it tends to wash out anything else.

See, the thing with me is that when I feel this strongly about something or someone, the feeling is overpowering. When I feel it fully, it doesn't really leave room for anything else. I have the capacity to love many people, yes. In fact, I love the rest of my family more than most married folks that I've seen love their spouses. (Note the 'most' and 'that I've seen' up there, please)

Actually, looking up at that statement, let me revise something I said earlier: I feel *everything* very strongly. I just realized that all this was an attempt on my part to describe the difference that I feel between loving someone and being in love with someone.

I guess my real question then is this: Is there anyone else out there who feels things this strongly? For most of my life, friends and relatives have distanced themselves from me because they couldn't handle my *friendship*, let alone anything stronger. Why? Why is it that my family (Sanctuary group) can not only handle it, but return it? Hell, is the fact that I feel things this strongly a problem?