There have been so many different, inventive ways that people have proposed to their partner. One Youtube search can show you countless proposals. But it's not just about the act of asking someone to marry them- it's also the events that lead up to that unforgettable moment.
ashleyhellsan asked: Happily married couples of reddit, what was the moment you realized this is the woman/man you were going to marry?
That's so sweet.
"It was when my husband clicked with my family. He wasn't afraid to spend time with them, and would actually suggest it. He greeted my grandfather with "hello there young man!" And then help him out of the car or walk from a restaurant. He never got frustrated with a slow pace or the crazy that is my family.
Plus my family loved him. They would call to talk with him or pull pranks on him. My parents even invited him to a cousins graduation in Wisconsin and paid for his airfare. It was his first flight and my dad and mom pranked him so hard about his "duties" on a flight. He took all of that with grace and smiles. He loved my family back.
It made me aware that this crazy we had going on could work long term."
So wholesome.
Giphy
"We had decided we were going to take a crack at homemade pizza. We found a recipe online. We made a grocery list. We were standing over the case in the deli that had the pepperoni. The recipe didn't list how much pepperoni to get.
I said, "How many packages?"
He said, "Two? One for us to put on the pizza and one for us to eat while we make it?"
It's stupid and silly but that's when I knew both because I realized that he knew that I (and him, but mostly me. I love pepperoni and he apparently knew it.) would graze the pepperoni as we cooked. And the mental image of the two of us together in the kitchen eating pepperoni and making pizza filled me with such warmth."
Amazing.
"I've posted this before but we were about 3 months into dating and I hadn't really told her what my parents did for work. Her parents own a successful business, I immigrated here and my dad was a cashier at a convenient store.
When she asked me, I hesitated to answer, and she immediately picked up on it and said "you should never be ashamed of your parents, they've worked so hard to get you where you are; I'm so proud of them" and honestly, I cried. I realized right then that I was going to marry this girl. No regrets at all. She makes me a better person every day."
Romance takes many forms.
"I was in bed with a bad flu and listening to his radio show when I heard him casually mention his "life partner" for the first time.
Confused, sick me was like "wait... what? Was that a reference to me? Actually, yeah, come to think of it, that does sound about right... I guess I am!"
Over 18 years later I can still remember that moment - me alone in bed with a stuffy nose, and my heart leaping. But hey sometimes romance isn't all that romantic by movie standards."
What an icebreaker.
Giphy
"We'd fallen out of touch, living in different cities, hadn't spoken in over 6 months. Not for any reason other than we just had other things happening.
I was bored at a friend's party and my phone buzzed. She'd sent me a text.
"If I were a bison, that would be neat".
I decided at that point I was going to make things work and move much closer to this bison.
We've been married 6 years."
Museum dates are the BEST.
"I was in love with my best friend for a long time and could tell he had feelings for me too. We had been on one outing that could have been considered a date and we spent long hours with just each other, talking in his car, but I was afraid to admit that the nature of our relationship was a romantic one by explicitly confessing feelings.
Finally, I realized that some things are worth taking a risk for and I asked him out with the oh-so-smooth phrase "Hey, uhh, would you uhh, maybe like to go to a museum sometime? Like, as a date?"
We held hands in the museum, went on a hike to a tower, and spent the end of the date wrapped in each other's arms watching The Fellowship of the Ring. While we were cuddled up, we both had a moment where we saw our reflection in his skylight and thought "yeah, this is the person I'm going to marry." I'm typing this with him cuddled up next to me."
She seems like a really strong person.
"I crashed a motorbike/scooter thing I had rented in Vietnam with her on the back. It messed up her foot for about a week, and was sore for longer.
She took it in stride, didn't get angry or let it ruin the trip at all. I know so many people who would have let that ruin it.
Instead we did some of the truly spectacular ruins in Cambodia with a combination of crutches and piggyback rides.
It really made me realize how special she is and always brings a smile to my face when I think of it."
What a mess.
Giphy
'Our first date went so wrong to what he had planned. I could tell he was trying so, so hard, and everything went bad.
He put his arm around me during the movie 5 minutes before it ended. The place he tried to take me to for dinner closed the kitchen before we got there. We went to Burger King instead and I had to pay because they wouldn't take his hundred dollar bill. He was the first guy to buy me flowers, and he had brought them at the start of that date, but I didn't have a vase.
So after Burger King, we went to Wal-Mart to buy a vase and as we are standing on the vase aisle he says, "Pick any vase you want, I don't care the cost." I grabbed one that was only about $20, and when we got to pay, he had left the hundred in the car. So I paid for the vase too. It was just comical by that point.
We have been married over 10 years now and have 3 beautiful children."
Double win.
"We had talked marriage, but I had bad credit and didn't want it to mess up his finances so he couldn't buy a house. One day he called me from work and he had a mortgage broker on the phone with us who explained that our separate finances would stay that way, and in fact my husband's good credit would help mine get better. At the end of the call my husband says, "so now will you marry me?!"
Well be married 20 years come October and our credit scores are both over 800 now."
So thoughtful.
"I met my husband at work when I was a single mum to a young baby. We were friends first for a few months before we really started dating because, you know, you have to be sure when you have a baby...
I was having a really difficult time, suffering a little with PND impacted by the fact my ex-partner was on a pretty severe stalking campaign against me. If it had been the other way around, I'm not sure I could have dealt with the drama so early on in a relationship. But he managed, because he's literally the best man alive. He let me decide the pace we went at, when he met my son, etc.
A few months into dating, things got really bad with the stalking and I was struggling to sleep at night etc etc. One evening he arrived to my flat and let me know that he had just bought a house a few miles away with us in mind. Before we met he'd been saving for his own place in a famous building in our town, but he'd realised that a city centre flat didn't suit the life he wanted to live now he had the two of us.
He was driving to work one day and saw the development selling houses, and he just knew that was "the one" and put in the offer. I thought before that he could be The One, but I knew then and there that this was forever. It was just a logical step in his mind to make us a new home that we felt safe in; he just factored us right into his life plans like it was nothing.
He proposed a few days later, we put my flat up for rent, and all moved in together into the new house. That was five years ago, we got married in 2017, and he's just adopted our son. Count my blessings every single day."
Taking care of each other.
Giphy
"I was really sick, going on day number four of high fevers and a bunch of other fun. She was taking care of me the entire time, running to the store to get whatever was needed and taking care of our dogs so I could rest.
I woke up just craving a sandwich and asked if she could make me one. Without hesitation she made us both sandwiches and brought and came up stairs to the bedroom, put on a movie and laid next to me while we ate a sandwich, then she fell asleep on me. We had already been together a few years, but this was the moment I knew I'd be a damn fool if I didn't marry her.
A few months later I took her to the ocean for the first time (we were living in Wisconsin where she lived all her life), and proposed. That was three years ago and we finally got married this past May at Mount Rainier in Washington. She's actually sick now laying next to me in bed, it's 3:26am and I'm going to run to the store shortly to get more soup and medicine. We've had a lot of great memories, but these moments matter most."
That's a strong bond.
"My sister's funeral.
He was just so amazing during the whole awful process. I knew one day one of us would bury the other.
An awful but amazing realization."
Never be ashamed.
"I've posted this before but we were about 3 months into dating and I hadn't really told her what my parents did for work. Her parents own a successful business, I immigrated here and my dad was a cashier at a convenient store.
When she asked me, I hesitated to answer, and she immediately picked up on it and said "you should never be ashamed of your parents, they've worked so hard to get you where you are; I'm so proud of them" and honestly, I cried. I realized right then that I was going to marry this girl. No regrets at all. She makes me a better person every day."
That saved the trip.
Giphy
"I crashed a motorbike/scooter thing I had rented in Vietnam with her on the back. It messed up her foot for about a week, and was sore for longer.
She took it in stride, didn't get angry or let it ruin the trip at all. I know so many people who would have let that ruin it.
Instead we did some of the truly spectacular ruins in Cambodia with a combination of crutches and piggyback rides.
It really made me realize how special she is and always brings a smile to my face when I think of it."
Aww how thoughtful.
"He had been working all day, and was on his way home for some much deserved sleep. But then I drunkenly texted him asking him to pick me up McDonald's. He not only turned around and bought my food, but he texted and asked if the friends I was with wanted anything while he was there.
Unsurprisingly they all did want something. Because you cannot ask a drunk, basic, b*tch if she wants fries and not expect her to say anything other than of course she wants fries. He then drove it to the bar we were at and made sure they all had Ubers or DD's before taking me home.
I told him I loved him on the way home and never looked back."
War Face GIF
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Apparently, their sense of humor has no bounds. Curious to hear from drill sergeants online, Redditor darkstalker1000 asked:
"Drill instructors, what is the funniest thing you have seen a Private do?"
The following examples were utterly humiliating, but valuable lessons were learned.
Longheld Punishment
"Had 2 guys get in a fight in our bay during basic. The drill sergeant made them hold hands and pretending to be on a date all week. Only time they could let go of each other's hands was rack time. They ended up becoming pretty good friends."
Confusing Paycheck
"Ex British Army officer here."
"A corporal went on a nine week mortar course and was accommodated (obviously) while he was away. It turned out he knew one of the DS teaching the course and was invited, regularly, to dine and drink in the Sergeant's Mess."
"The month after coming back from the course, he brought his payslip to me with a puzzled look on his face and, embarrassed, explained he didn't understand what it meant and could I help him?"
"It emerged that the Sergeant's Mess had a chitty system - you didn't pay for your drinks at the time, but signed for them and the total bill was deducted from your pay."
"This legend had managed to drink more than his monthly salary both months he'd been away and his payslip was a negative balance."
"I'm sorry Smith, I'm afraid you owe the Army £235 ($327.50) this month."
Asking For An Advance
"Former European Anti-Air Trainee here."
"Recruit spent his first check on alcohol and sex workers, asked his commander for next months check in advance the next day. Instead of having a good excuse prepared to actually succeed in that proposal he blankly told him in front of 80 other recruits why he'd need it."
Eye-Level Reprimand
"I saw a guy post about how he was like 6'3 and his DS was like 5'2, so whenever he messed up the DS would go up to him face to chest and yell 'Elevator!' and the guy would bend down to eye level with the DS and say 'Ding!' and the DS would proceed to look him in the eye while he chewed him out."
Some experiences were downright hilarious.
The Stain
"Not an RDC, but in boot camp I was over the laundry crew. One recruit sh*t himself because he thought he couldn't leave his rack after taps. It was funny at the moment before I realized I had to wash it."
– ScootaFL
Ambush Training
"This was the funniest f'king thing I ever read from u/odomotto"
"Recruit fired all his blank ammo during 'ambush training.' He crawled in ditch opposite where the aggressors were, and started throwing rocks at them. DI came running in middle of the road blowing his whistle and screaming 'what the f'k are you doing?' Recruit screamed back, 'throwing hand grenades drill sergeant!' Without missing a beat, the DI screamed 'out f'king standing.' And walked away."
"My sides hurt and I was wheezing laughing so hard at this when I first heard it!"
These punishments made no sense. And that's why they're memorable.
The Replacement
"When I was in basic, a kid we called 'Albino' shot off a blank round accidentally in the field. The sergeants were pissed and took his weapon away and replaced it with a broomstick for the remainder of the week in the field."
"Man I remember some dude didn't put the sheet on his bunk the right way and had to wear the sheet as a cloak and go to all the other barracks dancing around sing about how he was the 'Catch Edge Fairy' or something. It was pretty silly, he owned it though. He was doing twirls the whole time. This was Navy bootcamp."
– Konebred
Despite how they are depicted on film, drill instructors are people who care.
Like, Beals – a drill sergeant at Fort Knox, Kentucky – who said:
"We provide more than just physical, mental and emotional guidance for them. You are a father, a preacher, a financial advisor, a counselor-you provide so many different services to the Soldier that the regular public doesn't see on day to day basis."
"They see what they see in movies and what they hear about by word of mouth. But you are fulfilling so many roles other than just being a trainer and teaching an individual how to be a Soldier in the Army."
And occasionally, they are having a laugh at the crazy things their trainees do.