I'm a bit of a hopeless romantic, but don't really believe in love at first sight (to an extent). For me it's not about love, but about instant personal change. I'm pretty selfish, anti-social when it comes to new people, and fairly apathetic in regards to relationships. I'm the type of person to forgot someone's name 30 seconds after I meet them, have no idea what we talked about for the last 20 minutes, and most likely introduce myself the next time I see them. I'm a bit of an unintentional ass.
A couple months ago, I was visiting my college for a reunion of sorts, so... drunkest I've been in a while. I'd typically not remember one conversation from the night before except the ones with my good friends. I met 3 girls when my buddies were going to bed (old guys at 27). I hung out with them for the rest of the night. The morning after, I remembered every word from the conversation with one of the girls and had no idea what the other girls' names were (which will probably be bad if/when I meet them again). I knew her favorite drink, her sisters' names/where they went to school/their majors... even her favorite hot sauce (lol, weird conversations huh?). We don't live very near each other for the time being (until June), so our interactions really aren't based on lust.
In a romantic, familial and friendship sense, my perspective on people you love is that you allow them have an effect on who you are. I don't think you should ever allow strangers or critics to influence your personality. But if you allow people into your life, you have to expect that they'll have an influence on who you are. I also don't like the wording 'love at first sight'. Love at first
sight is EXACTLY what lust is. As I have a bit more of a logical persona, I prefer 'acknowledgement of the potential for love after the first interaction' (lol).
But ive also been contemplating that love can be felt multiple times and lust is the same feeling as love,, just a regret later on.
I fully agree about love happening multiple times. Love is part of your family and friend relationships, what makes romance any different? I dated a girl for 3 years, we broke up when we moved away from each other. Our breakup was mutual and friendly. 5 years later, she's engaged and yet we still talk fairly regularly. Romance love should always develop into friendship love (or you're doing it wrong

. They aren't mutually exclusive though).
Lastly, people seem to have become afraid of our natural urges to fit the prudish societal views. Lust shouldn't be regretted, it's a natural part of life. Life is too short for regret, anything you might regret should be treated as a simple learning opportunity. The only thing you should concern yourself with is confusing lust and love repetitively, meaning you aren't learning from your experiences. I definitely don't mean that you should become jaded or reserved. That's a recipe for being miserable.