My wife and I dated, and even lived together, for 4 years. We broke up and over the next 8 years went on to have other girl/boyfriends. But as they came and went, we remained friends. One day we found ourselves consoling each other over another set of breakups. That’s when we came to the realization that while passionate love affairs were going to come and go, we were just naturally going to be together till death does us part. That was 12 years ago and we're still good.
Love is a state of being, one where you don't have to seek out it's presence.