I'm still learning about what love really is....
My childhood was filled with love...parents, grandparents, brothers, and extended family member all showered me with love.  I have a few friends that I truly love, although not to lessen the feeling I have for my family, I would spell it 'luv'.  I know I am extremely fortunate to have met my 'soul mate', my true love in my late teens, and we married and raised our five children together and now share five in-law children and so far six grandchildren.  Love is amazing in its capacity to grow.  We are not born with a certain amount of love and then have to divide that amount of love on the people in our lives.  It just keeps flowing....That love, that married love, that feeling of wholeness you get when you are with your soulmate... is quite remarkable.  
I've come to learn a few things about love recently.  One thing I've realized, is about the concept of soulmate.  The part of us that connects to and is attracted to another person is not the physical self but the soul.  We usually say it's our heart that falls in love, but it is our essence that draws us to another essence.  Our souls connect.  And our souls are not defined by  physical characteristics.  Our souls are not limited by size or shape, by color or gender.
Love in itself is a gift of the soul.