I love a good love story. I love an epic love story even more. And epic love stories are more common than we think. Often epicness happens in the details, the small moments and over a short period of time. I firmly believe that when you know... you know. Deep down you can feel it when it's happening. But we've all become so jaded by life and the crashing of so many dysfunctional relationships, we already knew were a disaster, we tend to be apprehensive about falling in love ourselves, especially when deemed "too quickly." But who can define "too quickly?"
Redditor u/1_1_0_0 wanted to hear all about the times that love led and everyone just knew by asking...
Married people of reddit , How long after you started dating, did you realize you were going to marry this person?
I've been in love a handful of times. And each time I fell, I fell fast and hard. And after each fallout I swore... SWORE... that next time, I'd take it slow and have a checklist to go through before an "I Love You." Cut to me falling faster each time that follows. Oh well. My heart is a mess. But, love has worked out for plenty of other people.
The Irritated
Come On Reaction GIFGiphy"I first met my wife when we were dating other people roughly, 11 years ago. She found me annoying. I knew it was meant to be when she confessed this a few years later."
fugly16
Getting Oriented
"Met my wife the first day of orientation week in college. Both of us were in long-term (multi-year) relationships already. Less than 3 hours later, I went back to my dorm room and told my roommate, 'That's the girl I'm going to marry.' Took over a year to start dating, but we've been together ever since (nearly a quarter century later)."
"She's the other half of me I didn't realize was missing until we met. DAMN I love that woman... I'm going to call her now to tell her!"
HellbendingSnototter
It's Easy
"I know this sounds early, but like, a week. I feel exactly the same now as I did about her then. I knew it then and obviously I was right."
BleedingRaindrops
"Same. Husband and I stopped dating on date 3. It was too much effort and we were far too comfortable with each other. You hear about "clicking" but you never think how easy it can be. You find someone that fits perfectly with you."
Shanisasha
A Quick 6...
married single ladies GIFGiphy"We dated for about 6 months before I started thinking about proposing, but we were together for almost a year before I finally popped the question. We were juniors in college and got married before we graduated. We've been married for 40 years."
schnozzberryflop
4 Years!
"My (now) wife and started talking about marriage pretty early on. I don't have a specific timeframe, but I'd say within the first few months. At that point it wasn't super serious and nothing planned out. Just like, 'oh, when we get married I want to have XYZ at the wedding.' or 'when we have kids let's do XYZ.' That kinda thing."
"We knew it was going to be a while before that happened, though. She was in her final year of college when we started dating, and I was only just starting my career. We both had things we wanted to do before marriage."
"Mostly she wanted to live in a place on her own, without roommates or anyone else supporting her, for a year just to prove to herself she was actually able to fully support herself. I wanted us to live together, just the two of us, for a year just to know that we were really able to cohabitate well."
"So I didn't propose until about 4 years after we started dating, but we pretty much knew at the start."
VVillyD
See that? Love is like a venomous snake that strikes silently and without warning. Once the poison is in you, it's over. So all you can do is succumb. Oh, that's a gloomy analogy. Whatever, y'all know what I mean. And so do a long list of lovers with a movie worthy tale to tell. Read on...
Happy New Year!!
"20 years ago we met in December for lunch after being set up by friends. Talked on the phone for a couple of weeks, went out for New Years. We moved in together a couple of weeks later, middle of January. Married on February 24th, 10 weeks after meeting. Somewhere in the first couple of weeks we just kind of decided to get married. Best casual decision I've ever made."
bustedaxles
Bling Discussion
"After dating for like three months he asked me what kind of engagement ring I wanted and proceeded to show me his favorites. It was so sweet and I realized there's no way in hell I could marry another man."
Schnucksworld
with the seasons...
just married love GIFGiphy"We met in June, were in engaged by October, and married by the following July. That was 17 years ago."
rburgundy69
Daddy Knows
"I learned that he can defuse my dad's political rants without my dad catching on to what he's doing. It's very sly. Forget romance, that's a necessary survival skill and I needed him on my team."
"Edit: diffuse vs. defuse..."
"Also it was one of many reasons, but my dad is legendary among my family as the man you don't want to introduce your SO to before they're nailed down. He's a wonderful person and dad but he is kind of a crap-head. My husband gets along with him effortlessly. When you marry someone, you also marry their family. It's important that you're able to maintain peace."
Mannagggia
Smells like Love
"A week or two after we started dating she met my parents and farted in front of them."
SmokedByJesus
I Know You
"I had known this person by acquaintance since 2014. Asked me out in March 2017 - said no for 4 months. In September 2017 dated. In December 2017 he proposed, and in January 2018 I said yes."
"TLDR - 4 months after 1st date, but knew him for a few years before dating."
Jadhar303
Me & My Bestie
"5 months. My now husband planned this amazing road trip for my birthday where we went from Los Angeles —> The Grand Canyon —> Monument Valley —> Las Vegas. We had such an amazing time and he was the first person I spent that much time alone in a car with and didn’t want to kill lol. No fights, no bickering (even when a 4 hour drive from Las Vegas back to Los Angeles took 9 hours due to a massive accident)."
"We just laughed, had great conversations, and enjoyed the same music. I knew then he was the one I was meant to marry. We just meshed too well to not be soulmates; 6.5 years later (2.5 married) we still mesh so well. We’ve had maybe 3 verbal fights total, all of which only lasted a couple hours. Lucky to be married to my best friend. :) "
Smoky-The-Beer
Be Mad
"Probably after about 2 months, We had our first big fight and I remember when she offered to leave and I told her 'I'd rather be mad at you with you here, Rather than you leave.' That is when I realized it was different. 2 Kids a house and beating cancer later and we are still going strong."
Gorcrow
"Engagement Ring"
"I think I knew after two months, but after five months, I opened a separate savings account where I'd deposit an amount off of each paycheque to the account labelled 'Engagement Ring.' We were both still in school and I was working part-time on the weekends, so the deposits were more symbolic than anything, but in the end, they certainly helped out financing a good portion of the ring. That was almost twenty years ago and we'll still together."
BroodingBryanAdams
Immediate
In Love Hearts GIF by SpongeBob SquarePantsGiphy"My wife says she knew on our first date. I'm a bit slower on the uptake. It took me about 6 months."
*ickMorningwood9
3 Year Rule
"I had a 3 year rule. All of my previous relationships ended prior to the 3 year mark. Either I realised they weren’t the one for me or they realised it, either way it always happened before 3 years. With my wife I proposed just after 3 years when I realised I had had no thoughts at all that she wasn’t for me."
Settledforthisone
She was there...
"Before we started dating. She was my best friend for a few years, and I realized it during that time. I just had to wait for her to break up with her boy-friend. Then we dated a couple of years. We've been married 34 years, and counting."
Trid1977
Scared
Biting Nails Reaction GIF by SpongeBob SquarePantsGiphy"5 years; I had a lot of anxiety, undiagnosed depression and OCD. It took a break up and some time apart to realize he was the one I wanted to marry. We've been together for 13 years and I could not be happier."
IsaacNoodles
'Of course she's in those plans.'
"I asked my Dad for advice on if I should propose to my girlfriend or not. We were about 2-3 years in, and I had plans to possibly travel, to leave Pennsylvania where both our families and us live, or get a job overseas. He said do these plans include my girlfriend or not? And that hit me pretty hard because I instantly said, 'Of course she's in those plans.' My Dad told me to marry her. The next day I got the ring."
ClemClementine12
Be Okay...
"Probably about 5 years. I had commitment issues like crazy, and he also had some maturing to do. We broke up for a year, then got back together when I realized that it IS okay to be content in a relationship."
xiaomantoubuns
Listen to your heart, that's not just a great song from the 80s/90s rock band Roxette. (Love them) It's also a mantra we should all embrace more. Just try to embrace it with your brain attached. Pay attention to red flags but don't ignore Cupid's arrow when you feel the sting. Life is too short. But take your time before you share you're bank account information.
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Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.
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.