When it comes to romance, we often think of the big gestures as the ones that mean the most or stay burned in our partners memories for the longest time.
But this Reddit thread is showing that isn't always the case.
One reddit user asked:
Girls of reddit, what's the cutest thing your s/o has done for you?
And yeah, there were some grand-gesture kinds of responses but most of them focused on "the little things" - seriously if we had you guys play a drinking game where you had to do a shot every time someone in the comments said "little things" ... well ... just don't do it. I don't think our liability insurance covers cuteness-induced alcohol poisoning for our readership.
Under The Stars
GiphyThis is a long story but I'll never forget it. My very first boyfriend, we were around 15/16 at the time, was a hopeless romantic if I ever knew one. He was a very shy, sweet, dorky guy but just so in awe about everything around him and easily inspired/entertained by even the smallest things that life had to offer. He wasn't afraid to be vulnerable, but would stand up for anyone he thought was being wronged without question. People admired him and he was liked by everyone that knew him. Just a genuinely good guy who was raised right.
I was a tomboy who loved nature and books, wading through creeks to hunt for old bottles, wasn't afraid to get dirty, and generally didn't care much for relationships at the time. My mom had always told me that if you want something real you need to work hard for it and that life doesn't ever hand you love like that. But deep down, as most girls do, a small part of me wished for a tiny taste of that love at first sight feeling that would make any girl feel like they were the protagonist in a cheesy romance novel.
I remember seeing this boy and how well received he was by our classmates and I hated to admit that he really was charming and just had a way about him that was so innocent and hard to describe. I tried so hard not to have feelings for him because ALL the girls at our school did. But somehow we became fast friends and even faster lovers and he introduced me to a whole world of beauty I never really knew existed. The world was always the same, but the way I perceived it changed completely because of him.
I remember lying in the grass looking at the clouds with him at the local park and I confessed in the most awkward way possible that I thought I had feelings for him as more than just a friend. And he just paused for a second and rubbed his face roughly with his hands and exclaimed "Oh thank god, I like you too" and we just giggled about it for a long time. He asked me on a real date and asked what I might want to do. I told him how I had always wanted to do a date way out in the country where the street lights were dim enough and far away enough to where we could get a good view of the stars and just watch the sky for a while.
Around a week later he said he had a surprise for me and drove me 2 hours away from the city late at night and I was confused where we were going the whole time and kept pestering him about where we were bound to end up.
Well by the time we got to our destination, the weather had turned from a warm and breezy evening to a cold drizzle and clouds muddled up the evening sky. We had parked outside a freshly plowed cornfield and he seemed so upset that the sky had clouded over and expressed he had hoped to fulfil that dream date of mine under the stars.
I told him it was ok and tried to console him and got out of his clunky van to gauge the weather and see if it'd maybe clear up. After walking around for about ten minutes I came back and prepared to disappointedly tell him that he might have wasted the trip coming out here, but when I opened the door he was in the back of the van and it was pitch black back there. I asked him what he was up to and he says "just come back here with me real quick". He sounded borderline excited and hesitant, so I curiously crawled in the back to see what was up.
Not being able to see anything I reached out and he said to just wait for a second. And a moment later he turned on a flash light and shined it through an empty soda box that had a bajillion holes stabbed into it and pointed it at the ceiling of the van. I just stared in complete surprise and he started stammering about how he was sorry it wasn't the real thing but he hoped this could be a good stand in for now until he could take me to see the real stars.
It was honestly the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for me and to this day no one has been able to top the thoughtfulness, the kindness, or creativity this boy had to offer. In the end, after a year and a half together, we ended up separating because his family had decided to move across the country and he had no say in the matter. This was before cellphones were common place so we lost touch and never heard from each other again after he moved. My heart still hurts when I think of him and I've wished we could see each other again ever since that day. Wherever he is, I like to believe he's doing amazing things and I hope he achieved everything he ever wanted in life.
On the wildest chance that you ever read this Sebastian, I miss you so much and wish you nothing but the best.
One Man Show
I got him a Millennium Falcon plush for our first valentines day together (we were together for nearly a year by that point) and he gave me a one man show of the scenes from Episode 5 with the Falcon, completely unprompted. May be weird but it will forever be one of those cute moments that made me fall in love with him
The Little Things
The sweetest things were the small gestures like bringing me soup when I was sick or waking up very early to drive me to school or just buying me a gingerale on his way to meet me. Just things that I wasn't expecting and never took for granted.
A Long Distance Love
We're long distance so we can't really have any physical contact and I was having real trouble with my PTSD flaring up and me getting really bad flashbacks and having too many mundane things trigger panic responses. He sent me a surprise gift teddy bear to cuddle and hold ... best part is that this bear was wrapped in one of his shirts that he actually wore for a couple days so the teddy even smells like him because his smell really comforts me.
Pinata
GiphyOnce, on my birthday, he stuffed a pinata with lots of little gifts and hung it outside the house. Nothing expensive, but stuff like ponytail holders, my favorite candy, chapstick, a new brush, just little things. But I will always remember it, even after 25 years.
Why I'm Marrying Her
I was having a bad anxiety day and was incredibly overwhelmed. I came home to find my fiance had run a hot bubble bath for me.
After my bath, I went to our room to see she had transformed it into a giant fort, complete with a blanket nest and all the pillows in the house.
She had put one of my favorite games on (Resident evil 4), had her laptop open and playing my favourite show (would I lie to you?) and had surrounded the blanket nest with snack food and a cup of tea.
This is why I'm marrying her.
Pack Mule
My husband performs love acts of service when ever it occurs to him and this is my love language.
He carries my water and nutrition for endurance mountain bike rides. This helps me bike longer so I can see more remote locations. He calls it being my pack mule.
Welcome Home
Once, I had to go out of town to see my psychiatrist and I was very sad because we hadn't seen each other in a while and that was the only day he had free. I spent the day all sad and wishing I was with him. When I got home, he was waiting for me in my room with a handmade sign that said "Welcome Home".
3 years after that and we're still together
- Poty_
Constantly Busy
My s/o is constantly busy. He keeps his mind occupied with new projects after another and runs a successful company on the side. I often feel a bit afraid of his fixations and activity on things as I'm one with ADHD and just unable to comprehend how his mind works. I struggle taking a shower because on the way to the shower I see 10 other things I could do which in turn gets me overwhelmed and I sometimes end up doing none of those things because 'everything is just too much right now'. It often makes me feel very alone, when he's in his own world, only inches away from me but out of reach because it's impossible to try and distract him from what he's fixated on atm.
But then in the middle of all this he suddenly gets up and makes me sparkling water because I might be thirsty, heats up a hot pillow and places it under my feet because maybe my feet are cold or reaches out a hand to stroke my head if he's sitting next to me while working because for the next 3 minutes he doesn't need his other hand. Sometimes he runs downstairs because he ordered us surprise Starbucks and hands me my favorite drink. In the middle of a meeting call he puts the conversation on the speaker and jumps in to cuddle me on the couch.
To me, these little actions are enough to make me cry, because even though I sometimes feel disconnected of him constantly keeping himself busy on something, I know that all along I was there on his mind as a priority, not something pushed to the back of his mind, under all the million things he wants or needs to do.
The cutest thing ever? He drops everything if I don't feel well. Be it physically or emotionally, he drops absolutely everything to be there to support me. I'm having a panic attack? He buries my face in his chest to calm me down (which works for me, doesn't work for everyone). I'm getting sick? I'm tucked into bed with an endless supply of anything I might need and a 12 hour chicken soup on the way.
- skizjo
Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.