When you first meet that person who piqued your interest on a dating app or introduced to you by a mutual friend, you might sense fireworks.
After pursuing a relationship with one another, couples eventually reach a point where they continue with their romantic journey together or go separate ways.
Finding the person with whom romantics want to spend a significant amount of time together is the hope, but when and how does this defining moment happen?
Curious to hear from lovestruck strangers online, Redditor abhinav0426 asked:
"What was the moment you realized you were truly in love?"
When you know, you know.
Good Listener
"When I knew I f'ked up but I wasn’t scared to talk about it. I was still a little anxious, but telling him what I did wrong didn’t change sh*t. He worked with me through it as if it was nothing."
– Amazing_Leopard_5524
The Comfort Zone
"When I didn’t have that anxiety you get in relationships. The thought of where they are, what they’re doing, whether they’ll message me or I have to message them first…"
"There were no games, it was all consistent. Even after an argument, I knew I’d wake up to a good morning message. Everything felt safe and secure. No worries, just admiration."
– PrettyYS
"My girlfriend was adamant on ‘never going to bed angry’ and that made me respect her and her value of our relationship tenfold. Doesn’t matter what we might’ve been arguing over, when we get in bed at night we talk it out. "
– Gingy-Breadman
Living Rent-Free In Their Mind
"probably when i realized i was thinking about them all the time, even during random moments. it wasn’t just excitement anymore, but feeling calm and happy just being around them."
– LeeahKiss
We're Okay
"We were laying in his bed and I think someone closed the front door, which was loud and made me flinch. He almost immediately said 'you're okay' and pulled the blanket a little bit further up."
"Something about him saying you're okay instead of it's okay and so quickly- I don't know. But that was the moment lol"
– CouldBeGayer22
Worth The Sacrifice
"When I realized I was saving the last slice of pizza for her instead of sneakily eating it myself. It was a small, quiet moment that said, 'Yep, you're more important than the last piece of pepperoni perfection.' "
– Dream_Fairy04
These are written better than a Harlequin Romance novel.
The Embodiment Of Love
"I knew I was in love when I saw the way he breathed, the way he talked, and walked, and smiled, and nodded, and I saw art, suddenly the simplest things a human can do were magical when they were done by him, I saw happiness."
– EagleInternational16
"Absolutely this! I knew I was in love with my husband when I realised he made the ordinary extraordinary. He was walking towards me in his white shirt ( we worked together at this point) and he just seemed to glow. Everything else just faded away."
"I remember thinking, out of nowhere, that I was going to marry him. He died last year after 15yrs together. That deep fascination in each other lasted til the end. Thankyou for giving me a chance to talk about him."
– Striking-Stick7275
Vision Of Love
"The first sign was for some reason I couldn’t stop looking at the shape of her face… the way her lips moved when she spoke."
"I remember thinking that her blonde hair was so beautiful that it put the sun to shame. And even though somebody had broken me horribly just a few months earlier - even though I desperately did not want to have feelings - I couldn’t imagine being without her. It was a terrifying and beautiful moment."
– TheMetalVvarg
The One That Got Away
"Throughout highschool I was very very.. dorky about my crushes and never had a girlfriend, nor had I ever had a kiss. I decided, during my first week of college, that I'd say fk it to finding love and just try to be casual and hook up without getting invested. I was taking an art class for fun and noticed a girl who I found pretty attractive, international from Indonesia."
"Went out on a few dates (my first ever ones) and realized I didn't have it in me to 'hit it and quit it'. She hasn't even had her first kiss either, and I was starting to realize that, yeah, I actually like this girl a LOT. On the last day of the quarter, we were walking through a pasture near campus when I asked her if she'd be my girlfriend, and she said yes."
"When I dropped her off at her apartment, I left to go buy a notebook and bought a leather round journal, and it hit me. I could not go another second without knowing what it was to kiss her. I drove back called her, and she came out. And she knew what I was there for. We shared our first-ever kiss, and I felt my already melting heart just completely liquify in warmth."
"We had a rough relationship over the next two years, due to culture and family problems, all of which I could see were stealing her youth from her. So one day, when she broke up with me, I begged to work through it for a couple of days until one day, she broke down crying, asking me to just accept it. I realized I was doing this to her."
"So I immediately shut up and agreed to go our separate ways. Eight years ago, and many relationships since, I still remember her every time I look at the night sky. We came into contact a couple of years ago and spoke. She was engaged- married now, happily. I wish her all the best."
"I don't know if you can still love someone you haven't really known in almost a decade- they're hardly the same person anymore, most likely. But the love that was will have forever changed the inner workings of my heart."
"And every night when I try to sleep, I remember the feel of her arms looking around my neck, and her quiet voice against the sounds of a San Francisco night; 'Don't ever leave me.' "
"And part of me never will."
There's only you.
Irreplaceable
"I never thought people would be irreplaceable until I met my husband. Ours was a long distance/never gonna happen in million years type of relationship."
"When I realized the thought of doing the easy thing and finding someone else that’s more convenient crushed my heart. I realized he should be the man deserving of all the love I have in me. I love you pookie I thank God every day for you✨"
– RichHealthyHappy96
Love Like New
"I knew I loved him from the start, when I first met him. He was so kind, funny and cute. We’ve met 5-6 years ago? But I’m finally with him, it’s been 1 year 2 months since we’ve been together now and I still love him the same."
"He makes me nervous still, his touches and everything about him makes me feel more crazy about him. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before, maybe I thought I did but I didn’t, being with him is so much different. I can be me around him without any judgment. He makes me feel special."
– Relevant-Cherry-6940
Til There Was Him
"I'm a pragmatist at heart, so I thought couples who fell in love at first sight and were still in love in their old age (I worked in aged care) were just two hopeless romantics meeting and getting lucky when it turned out to be a lifelong thing. And then I met my husband."
"I knew who he was, the core of who he was, from the very first split second I saw him. All the baggage and life experiences that dictated behaviour I figured were just semantics I would learn with time, but I KNEW him. I was right."
"It's been 8yrs, and we have three kids, and I am still completely in love with him. But the moment that completely sealed it for me happened about three weeks in - we had met and started living together the day after through a series of unplanned sleepovers (stayed up too late talking), and one day, we went to the store."
"He was paying for stuff, and I realized I wasn't uncomfortable because I was going to marry him. And not in a giddy I can't wait way. In a calm, we literally have the rest of our lives to get to it no rush kind of way."
"For his part, he claims he knew in the first week."
– PicnicAnts
Caregiver
"I was a student at the time, and the general stresses of life led to me having a pretty severe case of strep throat. I’m talking about physically incapable of eating solid food for what felt like days. My diet seemed to consist of only gatorade."
"I was essentially bedridden/passed out on a couch while dealing with the strep/liquid diet and hadn’t been able to see my girlfriend in days. At what must have been the peak of this illness, my girlfriend paid me a surprise visit—bringing various soups and essentially feeding my weakened @ss the first non-sports drink-related substance in days."
"I knew then and there that I was in love with her. We would go on to date for a few years."
"Now, our wedding anniversary is just a few weeks away, and I’m sitting here on our couch (different from my 'strep couch') writing this while she and our two dogs quietly snore cuddled next to me."
– badgers154
Always There
"I was having a really bad panic attack after an incident, and my boyfriend called me up on the phone to calm me. I just felt really loved and protected in that moment, and it hit me in that moment that he actually cared for me, and I want to make him feel just as loved."
"There's also him engaging in stuff I like without any hesitation. He would try out books and movies and then talk in depth about them with me. Or go to concerts with me, even though he has never heard of the artist before - he made it clear he just wanted to see me happy."
– Sea-Presence6809
People realizing they were in love during a simple moment is beautifully profound.
It's spontaneous, but it's a profound experience to know that a fleeting moment can have a life-changing impact.
Love is patient, they say, and when Cupid hits his mark, it's always worth the wait.
