Love?

What is love? This has been debated for quite some time... yet we seem to have no definitive answer. I believe this is due to our perception of accumulated words in our somewhat extensive vocabulary. Every word in the dictionary of our brain has its own definition which has been acquired through our experiences and influences. No two people have the same experiences and/or influences in life therefore our perception of words tend to vary.
Being that love is a lofty subject, defining it has some complexity to it. A while back my boyfriend and I were discussing love amongst ourselves. We are often criticized on our views of love because we are 18 years of age and living with each other. We are told we are too young and that we have not experienced "true love". We believe that we are experiencing true love every moment we have spent together. I gave up my family to be with him because they were not accepting of him. He gave up his privacy and a big chunk of himself to let me move in.
His mother heard the conversation between the two of us and felt we were naive. She told us that the only true love you can ever feel is that for your children. Her explanation is that your children come from you and that you give up a part of yourself when they're born to care for them. She says from the day they are born you must put your child before yourself, which to her is the biggest sacrifice a person can make. This to her is the only kind of true love that can exist.
My boyfriend and I had a problem accepting this definition for love. Not only did it imply that we did not know what love was but that no one who has not yet mothered or fathered a child knows what love is. I cannot accept this definition for the mere fact that it puts a restriction on a word that does not have any. If you look up what love is in the dictionary it just states that general affection and pleasant emotions for anyone/anything can equate to love.
This lit a light bulb in my boyfriends head. He went online and looked up people who had love for things. He found a story of a girl who loved a water bottle. It belonged to her late brother who was a very active/sporty person. He took that bottle everywhere and it was a source of energy and life for him. He meant a lot to her and now all she has left of him is this bottle. I feel that she really feels love for this inanimate object.
My conclusion for the definition of love is that there is no definition. I do not feel my boyfriends mother is wrong, to her maternal love is the truest. I do not feel that the girl who claims to love her brothers old water bottle is lying and I certainly cannot argue with my own emotions. If we all are correct and no one is wrong in loving anything or anyone there cannot be a definitive answer as to what exactly love is beside affection. It doesn't say much but it doesn't have to.