Valentine's Day is just around the corner, y'all. Whether you've been together for agessss now or you're just talking, I think it's safe to say that love is in the air right now.
Fittingly, redditor u/Reddit_Survivor9 asked, "Women of Reddit, what's the moment with your partner that confirmed that you're gonna spend your life with them?" There were some downright adorable and heartwarming responses — here are just 19 of them:
1. "When we had just started dating, he was visiting me and a well-known pop song started playing on the radio. He asked me to dance to it in the kitchen and sang the entire thing (very off-key). It was clear to me at that moment that we would be doing dances like that forever, me laughing at his non-existent singing skills. Six years later, I can report we still do it."
2. "One weekend, my boyfriend asked if he could come over after work. I was a single mom at the time and it had been a very long week. Between work and my kids absolutely steamrolling me, my house was a disaster. I hesitated and then told him he could, but he was gonna have to excuse my house because there was no way I was going to get it completely straightened out before he got there. He told me not to worry about it. I’d managed to get most of my house looking like humans lived in it again by the time he texted he was on his way, but my kitchen was still a huge mess and I apologized for it. He got out of the car with a bottle of wine in hand and didn’t bat an eye when he went in the kitchen to pour me a glass. He handed me the glass of wine, picked me up, sat me on the kitchen counter, then proceeded to clean my kitchen."
"He washed my dishes, wiped down the counters, swept, and mopped, refusing to let me help. I tried to protest multiple times, but he insisted that it was no big deal and asked what good he was if he couldn’t relieve some stress. I quietly cried into my wine while I watched him clean and thought, 'I’m going to marry this man.' I did exactly that two years later."
3. "We had just started dating in college and were driving on the interstate when we saw two old ladies and an old man who had run out of gas on the side of the road. My now-husband drove to a gas station, filled up a container, and got them back on the road. I didn’t realize until then that the quality I was looking for in a partner was kindness. We’ve been together 50 years now."
4. "We've been long-distance for most of our relationship. One time, I had a really bad day at work. He called me when I was finished and told me to walk to a place five minutes away. I was due to get on the train to go home, so I was confused. I went anyway out of curiosity. I called him back, asking what I was meant to be looking for. He told me to turn around and, lo and behold, he was stood behind me."
"I had been having such a terrible week, so unbeknown to me, he had spoken to his boss and taken the afternoon off work. He drove three hours out of his way just to come and give me a hug. We had dinner together and then he had to drive home. I was so overwhelmed by how thoughtful it was that I cried. I knew from that day that I wanted to marry him. We got engaged in November and I consider myself very lucky."
5. "It was sort of a gradual progress until it absolutely wasn't. I wasn't going to marry someone I couldn't see myself being psyched over having kids with. As it turns out, I ended up pregnant unexpectedly, despite taking the pill. I was initially kinda scared of how he'd react. I thought he'd be pissed off or angry or something. When I told him, he was thrilled. He reacted like he'd won the lottery. That locked things down for me. I had weapons-grade abandonment issues at the time and it's hard to put into words exactly what the positive reaction there did for me."
6. "It’s hard for strangers to make my dad laugh. Like, a proper laugh. I read out a funny text my boyfriend sent me while we were dating. It cracked my dad up, and that made me feel all warm inside, like he was already part of the family."
7. "I don't remember the first one exactly, but the most recent was last night. I heard him in his office, having issues with his computer, cursing under his breath and getting aggravated. He's never, ever been the type to take his moods out on me, but in past relationships my exes did it all the time, so I'm programmed to just immediately get anxious by it, assuming I'd be walking on eggshells all night now. After a few minutes he stopped fiddling with his computer and left his office to come to mine, and I prepped myself for the incoming attitude. But all he did was smile and say, 'When we go out this weekend can we stop by Micro Center?'"
"Then he laughed and said, 'My monitor keeps going black and I died in my game cause of it!' I laughed too. We shared the aggravation he felt and went to go lay down together. No fights, no misplaced anger, no random attitude thrown my way from misplaced frustration. Just love and support."
8. "A month into the relationship, I decided to surprise him at his house on a Friday evening after work. We had plans to meet up the next day, but I couldn't wait. Keep in mind, we lived three hours apart. I was halfway to his city when my roommate called and said he had shown up at our house in an effort to surprise me, too. I knew right then that he was something special."
"We got married a few years later and we often joke that we're the same person. We finish each other's puns, we'll stop at the store on the way home (separately) and pick up the same cookies, and one Christmas, we got each other the same gift. It's the best."
9. "My cat was always terrified of everything, especially houseguests. The first time my boyfriend visited my place, she fell asleep on him. She never did that with anyone else, even me."
10. "When my daughter, who was 9 months old, immediately reached for him when they met. It usually takes her some time to warm up to strangers, but she was immediately comfortable with him and giving him kisses. That's the moment I knew he was the perfect man for me."
11. "We'd been together for less than six months when it happened. Somehow we've always known we were it for each other, but this was the moment that solidified it for me. My mother has a rare genetic disease that affected her heart, so my sister and I had an appointment at the cardiologist to get ours checked out. It was a very hot summer day, and my partner decided to tag along for the appointment. As it turned out, I had to have a holter recorder attached to my chest for 24 hours, which I was pissed about because I knew that it couldn't touch water and I wanted nothing more than to take a shower and wash my hair, which I wouldn't have been able to do alone. I was very frustrated — I cried, I felt overwhelmed, I behaved really poorly. It was clear that he was frustrated by it, but he never said a bad word, never raised his voice, never ignored me."
"Later, he helped me shower. I didn't ask him, and he didn't even say he was coming to help. He just followed me and helped, holding the shower head and making sure that the device stayed dry. He helped me wash my hair, too, and then dried me with a towel. I was so touched that I couldn't stop crying and thanking him. All he said was, 'Cause the lady wanted to wash her hair, huh?' with a smile in a mocking, yet loving way. I'll never forget it."
12. "My boyfriend was deployed to Afghanistan at the time and every day for months he would wait in a long line for hours just to use the phone to call me and hear my voice. He was only allowed one phone call and only one try, so if I didn’t answer, the phone would go to the next person in the line. He also somehow found a way to send me flowers to my work every week."
"The moment I knew, though, was when he had a friend who was deployed with him stop by my work one day. He asked my name and if I knew him. He told me that my partner wanted to give me something, and handed me a small, intricately carved wooden jewelry box. Inside was a handwritten note from my partner, a Sapphire ring, and pendant necklace. I have never in my life felt so loved and cared for."
13. "It's kind of silly, but I'm afraid of the dark and use a nightlight in my bedroom when I'm sleeping alone. When my SO and I first started dating, he'd stay over a few nights out of the week. He needs it to be dark when he sleeps, so I unplugged the night light while he was over. One time he stayed over for like a week straight and then wasn't staying that night, so when I got into bed and turned off the light, I had a moment of panic about the dark. That was, until I realized it wasn't dark at all. He had remembered to plug in my night light before leaving that day so I wouldn't be in the dark. That was my first 'wow, he really cares' moment, and he continues to show me to this day."
14. "I'm currently 23, he's 25, and we're high school sweethearts who've been dating since 2014. One night, my mom was in the hospital and — since it was during peak covid — we weren't allowed inside. He stayed in the parking lot with me until like 3 a.m., which was when my step-dad was able to leave work to be with my mom. Prior to us leaving, I was talking to him about how I was severely sleep deprived. I had worked a night shift the day before and didn't get any sleep due to my mom's condition at the time, so I'd gone about 24-30 hours without sleep. He was telling me to try to nap, but my body just wasn't having it. I was also hungry and dehydrated and beyond stressed, so it was a terrible time for me."
"The whole time, I was just telling him that I really felt like I was going to puke, but nothing was coming out of me. I'd like to add that I have a bad gag reflex and will puke if I hear or see it. Well, I ended up throwing up in the parking lot, all over his car door, the passenger seat, and myself. My body was dry heaving so bad that I even ended up urinating myself. I started shaking, and without hesitating, he got out the car to me, cleaned me up as best as he could, and immediately took me home.
We didn't live with each other yet, but he made sure I showered and tucked me into bed before he headed home. He was so gentle and nurturing to me in a way I had never felt before. It made me fall in love with him all over again. He never made me feel bad about it, made sure to clean up the car, and checked up on me the following day. I mean sure we joke about it now, but in that moment, I knew he was my forever."
15. "My boyfriend has never once made me doubt his intentions or how he feels about me. My calls were always returned and my texts always replied to eventually, almost always same day. He’s always been very clear on where he wants to be with me. The moment I knew was when — after our first date — he met with the woman he'd been casually seeing before me and ended things with her. He promptly told me so, even telling me about her on our date since I asked if he was seeing anyone. I felt so much respect for him that he went to her in person, was honest, and told her he met someone that he’s really interested in getting to know better, full transparency."
16. "He put something like four different socks in different shades of black and blue together, and told me, 'Here, choose the ones that looks similar. I have to wear them and I don't have any single pair that match.' I do the same. At that point, I decided that we were made to each other."
17. "Back when I worked an extremely stressful job, I had what felt like no free time at all, and my car needed some things done. I felt so stressed about it, but didn't have the time to address it for a while. One day my boyfriend offered to drive me to work. I don't remember what he said his reasoning was, but I happily agreed. While I was at work, he changed my tail light, changed the wipers, and detailed the car. I was at a point in my life where multiple compounded stressors made me numb to emotion. I cried when he picked me up in my car and I saw all the things he'd done. I knew in that moment that he was my forever."
18. And finally, "I met my husband online in 2000 when he was 21 and I was 19. He was in the Navy and stationed close to where I lived in Southern California. We had dated exclusively for about 8 months when I became very sick and was hospitalized so that doctors could run diagnostic tests to determine what was wrong with me. He took leave earlier than he had planned, and instead of going home to see his family and friends, he stayed at the hospital with me for two weeks. The first night, there weren't enough chairs and no extra beds, so he took a sheet out of the cabinet in my room and slept on the floor, because he knew I was scared to stay by myself."
"We had to get permission from my hospital roommate for him to stay overnight for the rest of my stay. She was recovering from a double mastectomy and when I was off for testing, they spent a lot of time talking. She told me once, while he was out grabbing some lunch, that he was a keeper and that he loved me a lot.
We got married September 2, 2001. We're still together. Things haven't always been perfect, there was even a time that I thought we might divorce, but we always came back together. My mom still sometimes mentions him staying in the hospital with me and tells people that that's when she fell in love with him too."
Do you have a story of "the moment you knew" your partner was ~the one~ for you? If so, tell us about it in the comments below — all genders and sexualities welcome! Your story just might end up in a future BuzzFeed Community post like this!
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.