Is this Love?

I've thought long and hard about how I feel about the man I've found. He is beyond anything I imagined I could find, have, or deserved, and yet I hesitate to say I love him. Don't mistake what I say to mean I don't have INTENSE feelings for him, but his existence and influence in my life has caused me to pause and think about what love really is, what it means, and how lightly it's thrown around. I challenged myself to assess every relationship I had where I said those words (not many) and I realized I never truly loved any of them. Even the long term relationship that spanned years was never the sort of union I could claim as love. There was never a level of respect that real love would entail, and I never trusted him.

So how am I to accurately gauge what this new experience really is? I hesitate to use the word love because I've learned how precious it really is, and if I really am feeling it for this man, I'm going to make damn sure, for both of us, that I don't throw it around without thought. We both deserve more than that.