Experts on romance say for a happy marriage there has to be more than a passionate love. For a lasting union they insist there must be a genuine liking for each other. Which in my book is a good definition for friendship.
I've had two romances since moving to Las Vegas. One was with somebody 12 years older than me and the other was the same age and neither worked out. I know people still think of me as one of Hugh Hefner's girlfriends and he of course was much older than me but that was a whole different lifestyle and a different kind of dating.
Some say that the age of chivalry is past that the spirit of romance is dead. The age of chivalry is never past so long as there is a wrong left unredressed on earth.