We were not big believers in our house in pining for lost loves. My mother is probably the one I most often heard say “Absence makes the heart go wander.” (I’ve also heard it said, “Absence makes the heart go yonder.” I wish I could find the provenance for either, or both, but as usual I’m left with “American proverb.” Fine.) Mom usually meant it about pets – those who don’t get fed, who make someone else their favorite person, which is how she ended up the sole proprietor of the cat, but I have never believed that missing someone makes you love them more. Absences makes you miss them. And then you resent them for not coming back.
I’m clearly not a romantic, here.
The etymology of the word “fond” is, of course, foolish or infatuated, from deranged or unwise, from the Middle English fonnen. So, absence makes us …deranged? Great. Perfect.