In movies, the realization that someone found "the one" is usually accompanied by a dramatic monologue or an extended running sequence toward their soulmate in a crowded park or airport. But, in real life, the knowledge that you've met the person you're meant to spend the rest of your life with often comes at a much quieter moment, like when you lock eyes at a party and smile and know precisely what they're thinking.
Recently, a Reddit user asked people to share the moment they realized their partner was "the one," and the responses are enough to make the most hardened cynic believe in true love.
1 | "I realized in that moment that it would be like chopping off a limb to leave this project."
ShutterstockOne Reddit user, who has been with their partner for over 30 years now, said that the moment came after they'd been working on a project together for months. "We would chat while code was compiling," the Redditor wrote, noting they "had a ton in common" and that "he could make me laugh all day long."
When the project ended, a colleague said it must be strange to know they wouldn't be spending so much time together anymore. "To my horror, I burst into tears. I realized in that moment that I had fallen in love and that it would be like chopping off a limb to leave this project. He called and asked me out the first day after. Said he felt the same."
2 | "She noticed how many times I usually sneeze."
Shutterstock"We were dating and I sneezed twice in a row," one Reddit user wrote. "She said, 'That's weird. You usually sneeze three times.' She noticed how many times I usually sneeze." They've been married for 11 years.
3 | "He would walk all the way home, even in snow storms, just because he wanted to spend an extra 10 or 20 minutes with me."
Shutterstock"When we were in high school, the bus didn't go to where I lived, so I had to wait at the school until my mom finished work and then get driven home," another Reddit user wrote. "Instead of going home on the bus, he would use that time to hang out with me after school, and then would walk all the way home, even in snow storms, just because he wanted to spend an extra 10 or 20 minutes with me."
4 | "All the insecurities I felt about being a single father melted away."
ShutterstockOne Reddit user wrote that he started talking to a woman he knew from college shortly after his divorce. He was reluctant to introduce her to his three-year-old son, but that all melted away in an instant.
"I came downstairs from the bathroom once and they were just sitting on the floor playing with his cars," he wrote. "It was a natural thing and all the insecurities I felt about being a single father melted away."
5 | "She told people I wasn't allowed to be karate partners with anyone else."
ShutterstockFor another Reddit user, it all started in karate class when he was a kid. "A little girl ran over and grabbed me, told people I wasn't allowed to be partners with anyone else," the Redditor wrote. Apparently, she was right: They've been together for more than 20 years now.
6 | "This is what I want to do every morning for the rest of my life."
ShutterstockOne Reddit user wrote the moment came when they were both around 24 and were snuggling in bed one morning, reading the newspaper together. The Redditor remembered thinking, "This is what I want to do every morning for the rest of my life."
"Fifteen years later, he’s reading the physical newspaper and I just finished reading the paper online and our two kids are playing sweetly on the floor," they added. "It’s more perfect now than I’d have ever imagined."
7 | "It was the most fun I’d ever had without actually doing anything."
Shutterstock"Shortly after we met, she invited me over to her apartment," another Reddit user wrote. "I came by and we talked from about 9 p.m. until 1 a.m. It was the most fun I’d ever had without actually doing anything."
8 | "As I watched him butter the bread, I couldn’t help but smile..."
Shutterstock"We were making dinner together, fully homemade spaghetti with garlic bread!" one Reddit user wrote. "He bought goofy stick-on mustaches and we used bad Italian accents all night while we cooked. We laughed so much! And for some reason, as I watched him butter the bread, I couldn’t help but smile and feel that zing in my heart."
9 | "She made a fruit tart for me."
Shutterstock"She made a fruit tart for me," another Reddit user wrote about a woman he'd been dating for about two years at the time. "I remember looking down at it, feeling myself getting glassy-eyed, thinking those exact words." Sometimes, it really is that simple.
10 | "People search their entire lives for someone to look at them that way."
ShutterstockOne Reddit user who is about to marry their soulmate wrote that it was the look of "pure love and excitement" that came over his face when they locked eyes in a crowd. "The first time I saw it, [it] made me think people search their entire lives for someone to look at them that way." And for more true romance, check out People Are Sharing the Funny Little Secrets They Keep From Their Significant Others.
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