"Is It So Horrible to Love Your Work?"
I feel like we've discussed this question a lot, EV. Not just "we" in general, here on the forums (which the royal "we" have), but you and I, specifically. It's odd that you haven't come to a conclusion about the question, by now. Or maybe you have, and this thread is yet another way to try and convince others of your decision? Or maybe you haven't, but are still trying to convince yourself? I'm not sure, at this point.
So I'll attempt to answer it, once again. :)
Of course it's not horrible to love your work!
I think life is too short to do work you hate, in fact.
Ideally you'd love your work, but at least you should be able to not dread going to it.
The wife and I loved our work. I loved teaching, it was fulfilling, made an impact on students lives (who still reach out to me to thank me, as many of them are now graduating high school and heading to college--I taught 4th/5th grade). It was truly much more that I could have asked for in a job, and I'd have been happy doing it forever.
But you know what? I STILL think most people who love their work, like I did, have good reason to quit.
Not all, mind you, but just because you love your work doesn't mean you shouldn't quit.
How does that make sense to quit something you love? The simple explanation is that it likely isn't the
only thing you love. In fact, it's extremely UNlikely that this is the only thing you love. So once you do it for, say, a decade or so, you can ER and do the many other things you love. You may be able to do them all, simultaneously, and maybe not. If it is hindering other things you'd like to do (travel, spend more time raising kids, spend more time with friends or family, pursue more education, pursue other hobbies, learn, grow, etc.), it may be time to quit that thing you love to focus on other things you love.
There's an SMBC comic that I use that explains this much better than I ever could, and how you can essentially "live other lives."
Read the comic linked here (you can scroll past the boring, irrelevant text of the post itself):
http://www.adventuringalong.com/2015/09/15/why-quit-if-you-love-your-job/ER lets you easily live these other lives. You should definitely love your first lives, growing up (and maybe college), and your first "adult" life, where you have a career that launches you to FI. Absolutely love it. That's the simple answer to the question in the title.
But that doesn't mean you make it your only life, and do it for 50 years.
Definitely love your work. But it's okay to quit, and love other things, too. :)