It's easy to get jaded about love in this day and age, but there are still some people who are fighting to feel that every single day, like these romantics.
Regardless of how "uncool" it is to openly talk about your desire to be with one special someone for the rest of your life, deep down inside the vast majority of us are pining for "the one." And a lot of us in long-term relationship long for that amazing, head-over-heels love to last forever.
The truth is that most of the time it won't. Still, a few people manage to find that ultimate soulmate, and they're just as gaga for them decades later as they were when they met them for the first time.
These Redditors have all been with their significant others for ten or more years and shared some of the frequent reminders that prove they found "the one."
1. This guy who loves the way his wife laughs.
For TheFlyingScotsman60 it's whenever the two of them can get silly together.
"27 years later I still get excited when she comes home from work or where ever. 27 years later we still make each other roll with laughter. I just love it when I see her laughing her head off with tears rolling down her cheeks. We are in this together, through the highs and the lows. It is us, a damn good team, against the rest of it and she does not take prisoners. I love her unconditionally and she me."
2. The little things indeed.
GadreelsSword appreciates all the small gestures that aren't so small: "After twenty years she still takes ME out to dinner. She’s always interested in my day. She will spontaneously give me a hug for no reason. She sends me funny pictures on my phone.
It’s the little things."
3. This tragic love story.
As sad as tavernau's story is, it's still beautiful that he gets to share this feeling with another person:
"Over a decade together but not married. I've got terminal cancer and she's still here. I love her more every day and it rips me apart that will end sometime too early. We make the most of it and get on with it."
4. Reading moods.
For molten_dragon, the fact that she can anticipate his needs and happily manipulate him into feeling great is peak marital bliss.
"I've been in kind of a funk lately. Work is more stressful than usual right now. And I have mild SAD which is hitting its peak at about this point in the year. Last night when I tried to initiate sex she pulled away and playfully said, "Nope, if you want me tonight you have to earn it." Cue the wrestling and giggling, and eventually the really good sex. And I'll be damned if that wasn't exactly what I needed to put me in a better mood, at least for awhile.
Having someone that can read my moods that well, and knows how to cheer me up without me having to say anything reminds me exactly why I married her, and how lucky I am that she still puts up with me."
5. Laughter man, it's underrated.
Love is mostly entertainment, and why shouldn't life be entertaining?
"We spend all day making each other laugh."
6. When you're in love, nothing else really matters.
Life doesn't always go the way you planned, but when you're happy with someone, you take the detours in stride:
"Where to start?
She really wants kids. My plumbing is 95 percent clogged. She’s still here.
"After my last surgery (of many), I was really bummed and feeling useless. She booked a week in Vegas including Golden Knights, Wrestling and UNLV tickets.
"Six weeks after we started dating, I was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer. She never left my side. She drove me to doctors. She held me when the radiation made me non-stop puke. She chased down doctors when the nurses weren’t giving her straight answers after my second surgery."
7. The shallow stuff's the best stuff.
It's amazing to still be desired and get turned on by the same person after all those years.
"19 years. Waited in bed this morning until she got out of the shower just so I could get a peek at her boobs to start my day."
8. For some, life's impossible otherwise.
PleaseDontTouchThose can't even imagine another reality.
"11 years and quite frankly it’s most days, not big events but all the little things. I literally couldn’t imagine life without her. She’s not just the one, she is the only possible one, irreplaceable."
9. It ain't always pretty.
But love is love.
"I’m currently off work sick. She’s just come into the room while I’m exploding with diarrhea to empty my sick bucket for me.
She’s the one."
10. Remember this feeling?
How amazing would it be to have it for decades?
"Every time she walks in the room, even after 20 years, my heart skips a beat."
11. For this dude, it's mashed potatoes.
"But.... I hope I don't get destroyed over this.. Mashed potatoes. She hates to make them because of the effort of all the pealing [sic] (and if I'm off at work I can't help.) but hers are perfect. They are my major comfort food (I don't know if it's because I am irish blooded or grew up poor, but I love me some mashed potatoes. There can be no bad days when they are capped off with her mashed potatoes."
12. Love + Effort.
Feels good to run with another person who gets you.
"Ten years later she still supports every dream I have and she works harder just to help me achieve it. She has sacrificed her time and energy to better our lives when she could use every excuse and get away with not doing much of anything.
She really is the best."
13. Doing an annoying thing for someone else.
They did the dishes. THE DISHES.
"Every year since 2006 my two friends from high school and I go camping for 4 days, and my wife stays at home with the kids. The trip is the highlight of my year TBH, as I rarely get to see these guys. This year I got home from work late the night before the trip and found she had cleaned all my dirty cooking utensils, pots, pans, etc and repacked then for me. It’s a little thing, but just an example of how thoughtful she is."
14. Yugoslavian flashbacks.
Good Will Hunting remixed:
"Neither am I married nor together for 10 years (6 years together) but I can't NOT tell this story. We're both from a country that no longer exists due to a civil war. She stayed in the country during the war and basically ran around with her mom. She doesn't like fireworks/thunder storms/etc due to it reminding her of bombings & battles. One night I had farted really f***ing LOUD while she was sleeping and having a nightmare where she thought she had exploded and woke up in terror. I had asked her what was wrong and she said "I exploded." I had started laughing but composed myself enough to tell her that I had farted at the right before her outburst...this caused us both to laugh for a good 15-20 minutes in the middle of the night.
15. Facilitating alone time.
Assault_Rabbit values having the house to himself, and his wife takes one for the team once a week so he can have just that.
"Every Thursday she takes our kid and stays the night at her mom's, originally it was so her mom could see our kid, but now she just does it because she knows I like having the house to myself."
16. Making her laugh.
I'm with thatjonokid on this one:
"When I make her laugh I still feel like a giddy schoolboy. At least once a day I just sit and think about how much better she makes my existence."
17. This litany of good stuff.
Preach, weebles_711:
"She never says a bad word about me to anybody, even when I am grumpy, she still gives me butterflies, and despite having little time together because of work and kids she still makes time for us to spend together.
She still comes up to give me a kiss and a cuddle while I cook dinner, and she makes me want to be a better me every day."
18. Amazed with how much love someone can have.
FaisalKhatib gets real.
"We've got a disabled kid. We've been through more downs than ups. We're financially, physically and mentally struggling. I stay at home (work part time) to take care of the kid. She works full time and takes care of the kid on weekends (So I can get a break). She has zero time for herself.
I'm a bundle of joy killing negativity. She's full of optimism. She wants a second child. We can't afford it but she doesn't care. She believes we can make it work. I keep breaking her dreams. She still loves me more than anything else in the world. She'll always be the one. Wish I could be better. It breaks my heart a little every day."
19. Making beautiful music together.
I mean Phantom of the Opera stinks, but love is love, baby:
"The moment though had to be in college when we were on mushrooms and went to the music practice rooms and she played piano and we both sang songs from the Phantom of the Opera. I was already in love with her voice, but it was immediately apparent that our voices fit together. We rode that high, but we never lost it. We still play together constantly and when I sing our kids nursery rhymes I can hear her harmonizing in the other room."
20. Opposites attract for these folks.
Creatorofstuffn dishes out on what makes things so special between him and his wifey.
"24 years here. We are exact opposites and that works so well for us. She is creative and a free spirit. I am the analytical calculating one. She is the Yin to my Yang. When she is gone I miss her, like I've lost a limb. She volunteers her time with preschoolers and loves working with the little ones. It makes me happy to see her happy."
21. This. This is the greatest victory of life.
Seriously, the one thing you can't buy, rep out, or get gifted. You either have it with someone or you don't:
"I'll be married 26 years this August, the moment is when she gives me that 'look.' The one that says 'I'm happy, you're happy, we're both happy.' Then we both seem to end up smiling, and maybe even laughing for nothing.
"It's probably not the best explanation, but is the god's honest truth."
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