It’s Monday, and Melanie has put out a new set of questions for Share Your World. Fittingly, this week it’s all about love and romance.

In your opinion, do May/December (older partner with much younger partner) romances ever work?
I think they can, if there is real love between them. I know people are often suspicious that a woman marrying a much older man, especially if he’s rich, do it for the money. (Why did Melania marry Donald Trump?) But I believe in love, and love can occur between people of any age or gender.

What physical action or gesture do you find romantic?
Hmmm, without getting pornographic here, I guess I would say when he comes up behind me and gives me a shoulder massage.

What is your idea of a romantic dinner?
Just the two of us in a quiet café, preferably in Europe, with plenty of time to wine and dine.

Is ‘love’ a real ‘thing’ or merely a physical chemical response and brain activity pulling our emotional strings?
Of course it’s real – all emotions are real, but each has a physiological component. I have heard that people are attracted to each other due to pheromones – unconsciously they are attracted to the way the other person smells – but I think it’s more than that. It’s biological (love leads to procreation of the species), physiological (certain chemical reactions occur – I’m not sure, but the movie Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Know About Sex pretty much sums it up!), psychological (the people involved are ready for a relationship – and for love to succeed, one must have self-love first), and emotional (you can’t stop thinking about the other person, you feel happy even on a bad day, you go crazy at the sight of the objection of your affection, etc.).

So the short answer to the question is “both.”

How do you show your loved ones that you love them?
By doing things for them that they don’t expect, such as things you know they want or need, but they haven’t asked for it. Listen when they have something to say, and take their advice. Also small gestures, such as hugs and laughing at their bad jokes!