Thanks to Hope, who introduced a heartwarming Reddit thread during a difficult moment yesterday.
Ladies, what was the moment when you realized that your SO really did love you?
There are many ways to say “I love you.” Here are some of my favorites:
♥ ”He stayed through my depression when I couldn’t even recognize myself.”
♥ ”I was very ill last year and I couldn’t go to the bathroom, eat, or do much of anything on my own…he would carry me to the bathroom and lift my head to feed me when I was hungry. He would run to the store at 3 am if I needed anything. He stayed by my side through all of it, and in those moments, as delirious as I was from being sick, I knew I found the person I could spend my life with. I would do it all for him, too.”
♥ ”When my friend took a candid photo of us together on a friends-night-out, that’s when I knew. I was laughing at something he had said, and he was just looking at me with the softest, most serious expression on his face. Every now and then, I’ll look over at him, and he’ll be looking at me like that again. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.”
♥ ”It was shark week, and he went grocery shopping and brought back a box of tampons. He said he noticed I was almost out.”
♥ ”We were in a club and a fight broke out. He literally picked me up and put me down behind him before I even realised what was going on! It was really lovely 
“
♥ ”My boyfriend told me he loved me 3 times in his sleep before he told me in real life. It was pretty sweet “
♥ ”I was freaking out over possibly having bedbugs. He came over in the middle of the night to take me to his place, and stayed up with me while I panic-baked 4 types of bread/cake.”
♥ ”He wakes me up almost every single day because I have a complicated relationship with my snooze button.
He lets me tickle him even though he hates it, because I love the way he giggles.
If I go to bed at night before him he tucks me in and kisses me and turns out the lights, and when I wake up in the morning and turn on the news he has already lowered the volume to the perfect early morning level.
Even if he didn’t “spoil” me with things like ice cream and snuggles I’d still be so madly in love with him it wouldn’t matter.”
♥ ”We were laying in bed one night and I was half asleep, to the point where I could still hear things but wasn’t coherent enough to respond. I assume he thought I was asleep and was talking to me telling me that I’m beautiful and how much he loves me and wants to spend the rest of his life with me. All while holding me and running his fingers through my hair.”
♥ ”One night I was crying really hard, I can’t remember why, and he just gathered all of me into his arms and lap and cradled me like a baby for like an hour. It was one of the most love filled moments I’ve ever had with him.”
♥ ”Me and my SO met via friend via the internet. We talked for a year until we were both honestly interested in each other, just being really good friends. We both have had awful experiences with relationships in the past and were very cautious going into it, especially when it was long distance. (Also, both virgins at the time.)
After a long time, we realized we wanted to be together. A few months in, we were “in love,” or as “in love” as you can be being 1,000 miles away and never met, so he flew out to meet me and spend some time with me, mostly to see if the relationship was worth keeping up.
We spent 4 days together (most time spent in the hotel bedroom) in the city walking and holding hands. It was the happiest time of my life, and I had fallen hard for him. I knew we were supposed to be together. We fit together perfectly, and I couldn’t believe it.
The night before he was to leave, we had just finished having sex and were holding each other on the bed. (He is a big man: 6 foot 3 inches and ~300 pounds) We had been talking and he lifts his arm to his face and I look and he had wiped away tears. I ask him what’s wrong and he starts full out crying and said: “I’ve never loved anyone this much, and I’m scared. I don’t want to leave you. I never thought I’d find a woman, especially one that loved me too.”
That was last August. We’re getting married on Saturday.”
♥ “We hadn’t been dating very long, and we were walking through a mall while we waited for his parents to meet us for dinner. We were talking about an upcoming wedding in his family and I said “I’d marry you.” in the same causal tone you’d say “I like raspberries.” As soon as it left my mouth, I was horrified, because I thought “Great, now he’s going to think I’m that clingy girl.” He just looked at me and said “Really?” with this smile on his face.
We didn’t get engaged for another year or so, but that was the moment that I knew he loved me, too.”
♥ “He loves the smell of my stinky arm pits. If that’s not love then I don’t know what is.”
♥ “He shaved my head for me when my hair started falling out from chemo.”
♥ “I had a head cold and I accidentally fell asleep on his chest. Just stayed completely still for the 45 minutes or so it took me to regain consciousness.”
♥ “I’m doing my finals, and he brought me dinner in Tupperware and heated it so I didn’t have to take time out of revision. And he didn’t even have to be asked. His respect of my panic and work ethic meant a lot to me, because I know it would annoy a lot of guys.”
♥ “My SO told me that he loved me, and that he couldn’t have sex with me unless I loved him as well.
He explained that he has had enough love-less sex in his life and only cared about the intimate sex that he could have through love. Fortunately I loved him, too. But knowing that he would give up sex if I didn’t return his feelings was a huge indicator of his love.”
♥ “He told me that just being in my presence made him feel good.”
♥ “The fact he respected my boundaries, didn’t pressure me into anything, and asked me if I was comfortable before he touched me. (That was when I knew that he really cared about me.)
I just knew because of the way he treated me. God, I love him so much.”
♥ “When he offered to sleep by the window instead of me, in case there was a tornado.”
♥ “I injured my rib Saturday and I’m in a lot of pain, so yesterday he clipped my toenails for me since I can’t reach my feet.”
♥ “When he held my hand in front of all his friends when I came for a visit.”
♥ “He told me I was a priority in his life.”
♥ “About 4 months into our relationship, we were pretty attached, but neither of us had said the L-word yet. I was resting my head on his chest one night when I noticed his heartbeat starting to thud faster and harder against his ribs. Before I could look up and ask if he felt okay, he said, “I love you.” Turned out his increased heart rate was just nerves. I’ll cherish that little moment when I realized the extent to which he was making himself vulnerable to me.”
♥ “I realised that he truly loved me the night of our first argument. The moment I started crying, he cried with me. I asked him when he was going to stop putting up with me, and he said to me in his most serious tone of voice “Never.” We’ve only had two arguments, and solved each disagreement the day that we had them.”
♥ “He made me a peanut butter and jelly and remembered I like it cut diagonally. It’s a little thing, but it stuck with me.”
♥ “He was gone all summer vacationing and when he came back I was checking out his scuba diving licensing book thing and saw that he put me as his emergency contact person “
♥ “The moment when i looked into his ey.. …wait a second. I don’t have an SO. I never have. WHY AM I ON THIS THREAD. 
“
Here’s when I knew Mr. HUS loved me. He had been to see me for a weekend over the summer, and when he returned he sent me a postcard – typed – that said: “You do something very special to Mr. Average.” He signed it “HOH”
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