We're all familiar with this moment in every romantic movie: The lights fade, the music swells, time slows down...you quickly realize that your main character has just met "the one."
Well this week, when Reddit user _MemeMan_ asked, "Couples Of Reddit: What was your 'they're the one' moment?", people proved that these moments happen in real life, too.
Here are just a few of the sweetest stories:
1. This sighting:
"When he was waiting for me in a crowd and I scanned everyone trying to find him. I saw him before he saw me. When he finally spotted me, there was a look of pure love and excitement on his face. It made me realize that people search their entire lives for someone to look at them that way."
2. This workplace romance:
""I worked for him. The project took several months, and there was no available office space, so they put my workspace in an office across from him. We would chat while code was compiling or other tasks were running, and we found out we had a ton in common. He could make me laugh all day long.
When the project was wrapping up, one of the other people in the department said, 'It'll be strange for you not to spend so much time with him, won't it?' To my horror, I burst into tears. I realized in that moment that I had fallen in love. He called and asked me out the first day after the project was finished because, as it turned out, he felt the same. We've been together 31 years now."
3. This consistent sneezer:
"One day, I sneezed twice in a row. She said, 'That's weird. You usually sneeze three times in a row...' She noticed how many times I 'usually' sneeze. We've been married for 11 years now."
4. This childhood love:
"The first time I went to a karate class as a kid, this little girl ran over and grabbed me. She told people I 'wasn't allowed to be partners with anyone else.' She was right. We've been together for more than 20 years now, and she still gets all sulky when I (purposefully) pretend to ignore her."
5. This gaming pair:
"When we were dating, I went over to her place and we were playing Katamari on her brother's PS2. I strolled over to the corner to see what other games he had, and noticed an N64. I immediately asked if her brother would mind if we played on his N64 too, and she responded, 'Are you kidding? That one's mine!' She still kicks my ass in Mario Kart to this day."
6. This playtime realization:
"I was recently divorced after an ugly and loveless marriage. I was living on my own and had almost 100% custody of my son. I started talking to this woman I knew from college. We began to develop feelings, and soon we started dating, but I was always hesitant to introduce her to my son, since he was just three years old at the time.
The moment I knew this woman was the one I was going to marry was when I came downstairs from using the bathroom and found my son sitting on the floor with her playing with his cars. It was such a natural thing for them, and all of the insecurities I felt about being a single father melted away."
7. This sweet baker:
"When my girlfriend made a fruit tart for me. I remember looking down at it, feeling myself getting glassy-eyed, and thinking those exact words: 'She's the one.' We were together for around two years at that point."
8. This news-reading pair:
"I had been dating my now-husband for a month. We were 24. We had stayed up late drinking and talking politics. We woke up the next morning snuggled in bed, and we started reading the newspaper together. I clearly remember thinking in that moment: 'This is what I want to do every morning for the rest of my life.'
15 years later and he’s reading the physical newspaper while I just finished reading the paper online, and our two kids are playing sweetly (for the time being) on the floor. It’s more perfect now than I’d have ever imagined back then."
9. This understanding partner:
"My boyfriend invited me to a party so that I could meet all of his friends for the first time. He could tell that I was anxious and didn’t know what to expect, so he sat me down, opened up Facebook, and showed me every person who would be there while also telling me a few things about each of them.
Almost four years later and he’s STILL like that. He often picks up on my emotions faster than I do, and never judges me or blames me, just looks for ways he can support me. I’ve had boyfriends before him, but he’s the first person I’ve ever truly called my partner."
10. This cuddle:
"It was one day after we'd met, and nothing physical had happened between us yet. We were at a friend’s place having a typical stoner evening. Mid-conversation, he interrupted me to say that he was 'feeling cuddly.' I laughed and sort of jokingly embraced him.
A few seconds later there was an audible gasp from both of us as we realized how right it felt. We spent the next eight hours in a tightly knit embrace, just holding hands...we didn’t even kiss. It seems ridiculous to think that we both knew it right then and there, but as time goes by, we can’t deny that we were right about each other from the beginning."
11. This high school journey:
"When we were both in high school, the bus didn't go to where I lived, so I always had to wait at the school until my mom finished work and could drive me home. Instead of going home on the bus with everyone else, my boyfriend would use that time to hang out with me after school, and then would walk with me all the way home, even in snow storms, just because he wanted to spend an extra 20 minutes with me."
12. This sweet gift:
"We started dating when Skyrim was about three months away from coming out for the Xbox 360. I had mentioned in passing that I’d really like to get the game when it came out, and she ended up buying it for me along with a bunch of snacks. We've been married for more than six years now."
13. This not-so-sour candy lover:
"I realized he was the one before we even started dating. We were just work friends at the time, and we were texting one day. I mentioned that the red and orange Sour Patch Kids were my favorite, but there were no bags with JUST those two flavors. Well, the next day at work he surprised me with a bag of red and orange Sour Patch Kids.
That same week I mentioned that I was surprised by my period, but I was stuck at work all day, and he immediately offered to go buy whatever I needed. We got married on our six year anniversary last week, and I truly couldn't have picked a better partner to spend my life with."
14. This adorable cooking lesson:
"We decided to make dinner together one night and try a fully homemade spaghetti with garlic bread recipe. Before we started, he revealed that he'd also bought a goofy stick-on mustache and kept using a hilariously bad Italian accent all night while we cooked. I'd never laughed so much in my life! It was as I watched him butter the garlic bread that I felt that 'He's the one' zing in my heart. Man, I love him."
15. This shot-taker:
"We had been seeing each other for about a month and we were at my family's house. She was in the living room watching some soap opera with my mum, while my brothers and I were in the kitchen, sampling a jar of moonshine my dad had just brought home.
The TV program finished, so she came to see what we were up to. She found the male bonding fascinating to observe. My dad offered her a shot of moonshine. She slammed that shot like it was lemonade. We were all suitably impressed, and my family have adored her ever since. For me, that was the moment I knew."
16. And finally, this short and sweet answer:
"All she had to do was be in my line of sight and I knew...30 years together, and it's still great."
Now it's your turn! What was the moment you realized your significant other was "the one?" Share your story in the comments below!
