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Can love really last a lifetime?  Absolutely – but only if you chuck the fairy tale of living happily ever after.  A team of scientists recently found that romantic love involves chemical changes in the brain that last 12 to 18 months.  After that, you and your partner are on your own.  Relationships require maintenance.  Pay a visit to a nursing home if you want to see proof of lasting love.  Recently I spoke to a man whose wife of 60 years was suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s disease.  He came to sit with her every day and hold her hand.  “She’s been my best friend since high school,” he told me.  “We made a promise to stick together.”  Now, that’s a love story. – “Life’s 25 Toughest Questions Answered!”

Reader’s Digest, March 2006, page 146