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People Share The Best Ways They've Ever Surprised Their Significant Other

A few years back, a friend of mine came home after a long day of work to find that her husband had cleaned the entire apartment from top to bottom, had ordered her favorite takeout cuisine, and picked out a selection of different wines. It was a lovely thing to see and immediately made her feel better, she mentioned, after another crappy day at her crappy job. (She later left that job and trust me, she's doing so much better now.) Even better: That night brought them closer together. They'd been going through a bit of a rough patch and would later renew their vows.

After Redditor Solid_V asked the online community, "What was the best way you surprised your girlfriend?" people told us about the things they've done for their significant others that brightened up their respective days.

"When she was sad..."

When she was sad about having to get a new passport and lose all her stamps, I vectorized the stamps and had a couch pillow printed with all of them overlaid on an old vintage map. It turned out great and she cried when she saw it.

ckuiper

Fantastic!

A great gift for the passionate traveler.

"I didn't talk about it..."

Pretended I forgot about Valentine's Day. I didn't talk about it the previous few days, then the night before I snuck into her car and filled it with stuffed animals, flowers, a card, and chocolates. She had to work early in the morning and found everything when she got into her car before work. She came back into the house crying.

ChaseDonovan

This is cute!

The kind of thing that can make the rest of your day. (Also: screw working early.)

"I drove six hours..."

I drove six hours to see her at college. We both moved away for school, I moved to Virginia and she moved to Tennessee. One night I decided I missed her way too much and drove from VA at 2am so I'd be there after she woke up.

She texted me about how much she wished she could see me and how much she hated being away from each other and I kinda just texted back "haha about that" lol ended up staying there for a week and going on dates every night.

kevinb275

"When we first met..."

When we first met I told her we were going camping for the weekend, about a 3 hour drive away.

On the way I said I needed to pee and pulled over in the middle of nowhere at a 5-star hotel. We walked in to reception and as she was about to ask where the bathroom was I pulled out my credit card and said "We'd like to check in please..."

She loved it! Which is good because it cost me my last cents. We're now married and usually go camping, not to swanky hotels.

Jimmyfromthepieshop

"I got to her apartment..."

I was in the Army living in Hawaii while she was in the upper-Midwest for college. Decided I wanted to visit her and I colluded with her roommate to figure out the best week for that. I put in a leave request and told her I'd be out doing training (glorified camping) for a week so I wouldn't be able to text much.

I got to her apartment and her roommate let me in while she was out at class. When she got home, she just started ranting to her roommate for a good 15 seconds not really looking over. When she finally did look over she just stopped in her tracks and stared at me with my "dumb goofy smile." Took her a bit to realize I was real and quite a bit longer before she finally stopped squeezing me to death.

Flashdime

"I made a rap song..."

I made a rap song for our one year anniversary, and she listens to it everyday if she ever misses my voice! Definitely one of the most things I am proud of making for anyone.

jacobjz

This is personal and thoughtful.

Who wouldn't appreciate it?

"We don't live together..."

We don't live together, but she usually spends her weekends at my place.

That one time, I went to pick her up, but instead of going back to my place, I took her on a trip to my parents' vacation home.

I_hate_traveling

Look at Mr. Moneybags over here...

...with a vacation home!

Just teasing––great for you both. Nothing like a nice getaway.

"She's sometimes very shy..."

By asking her out. She's sometimes very shy and had no idea I was interested in her because before now we were and still are best friends but yeah I was giving her hints and she wasn't picking up on them.

TheMegaGamer768

"We just pointed at stuff..."

Took her on a private plane ride for her birthday. We just pointed at stuff and the pilot would swoop over it.

p38-lighting

"My birthday..."

My birthday was just a couple of weeks ago. I had been trying to make plans with my friends for a nice, very drunk night at my place, but everyone was busy that weekend. I had decided to maybe have a really lame birthday and celebrate the next week. My SO had me distracted for most of the afternoon, and when I came home everyone was there! I'm 23 and I had my first surprise party! And for reference, my SO is terrible at keeping secrets. She usually gives me Christmas/birthday presents as soon as she buys them because she can't wait to show me. It was wonderful. They had filled about 200 balloons in my tiny apartment, and we all got loud and drunk and filled the bathroom with balloons. I really loved it.

DLumps09

"He absolutely loved it."

My boyfriend's birthday was earlier this month, so I surprised him by making a video compilation of friends and family wishing him a happy birthday. He absolutely loved it!

Storyteller13

"My wife was turning thirty..."

My wife was turning thirty and was feeling wistful about her twenties. In the four month leading up to her birthday I downloaded all of her old Livejournal entries (about a hundred and fifty printed pages, all told), formatted them and had them bound. She used to post mixtape tracklists back in college, and I found and burned each of those onto supplementary discs. The money and time investment was a lot, but it was a gift that both showed her how far she had come and how we were entering into a new decade of life as husband and wife.

[deleted]

Thoughtful!

Many happy returns to you both!

"He walked into his sister's house..."

My (then) husband and I got married and had our daughter in March of that year in AZ. He was then stationed to VA a month later. He was going on deployment soon after, so I stayed in AZ with my family. In June for Father's Day, I secretly flew to VA and met his sister, whose husband (also stationed in VA) had driven to the naval base to pick up my husband to visit for the weekend. He walked into his sister's house and saw me and our 3-month-old daughter sitting on the couch. He nearly tripped over the armchair to get to us.

That was a great surprise.

Something_More

Spontaneity helps relationships a lot.

"Adding a healthy dose of spontaneity keeps the monotony at bay and can strengthen a relationship through good and bad times," Katherine Jane, relationship coach and founder of Never Too Late, told Huffington Post UK in 2015. "Couples and people are constantly changing, so keeping spontaneity alive in a relationship helps both people grow with each other through new-found interests and reduces the risk of growing apart."

Which is to say: Go for it! You'll thank yourself later.

Have some stories of your own? Feel free to tell us about them in the comments below!

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People Share The Weirdest Facts They Know

Reddit user Former_Ladder9969 asked: 'What is a weird fact you know for some reason?'

Man explaining weird theory
Photo by Usman Yousaf on Unsplash

We've all heard some things that sound too good to be true, but we've also certainly heard some things that were too weird to be true.

But as strange as they might sound, from weird scientific facts to things that people have done to animals that actually exist outside of a distant, mystical realm, there are some things that are simply, stranger than fiction.

Curious about others' takes, Redditor Former_Ladder9969 asked:

"What is a weird fact you know for some reason?"

The Draw of the Deck

"The King of Hearts is the only king without a mustache."

- MR_dizzaster

"He's also sticking a sword in his head."

- Uwumeshu

"He was shaving and missed."

- puneralissimo

Random Facts About Strangers

"Diddy, the music artist, doesn’t like the way towels feel on his skin. So instead of drying off like a normal person after a shower, he walks around his house to air dry instead."

"Why do I know this?"

"Because for some reason, this was a fact given during an old show on VH1 called 'Pop Up Videos,' where they would play a music video with random facts being shown throughout. I have zero idea why of all the vital things I should have stored in my memory, this was one that stuck after all these years."

- dabking24

Spacial Awareness

"Australia is wider than the moon."

- MrSatanachia

"I can't decide if I'm more amazed that the moon is actually way smaller than I imagined, or that Australia is way bigger than I imagined."

- 5Beans6

"This is my confusion, lol (laughing out loud)."

- TheTinyHandsofTRex

That's Commitment

"Crabs have a muscle that enables them to release their claw if they have to."

- Norwegianxrp

"It took me an incredibly long time to realize this means like… fully release it, like remove it from their body. I thought it just meant release the grip they have."

- wowowaoa

Mystical Representation

"The national animal of Scotland is a Unicorn."

- Batmans-dragon80

"Yes, that’s true. Mainly because we have so many of them roaming wild in the glens. Chasing the Haggi and avoiding Nessie."

- Bri1311

Education through Music

"Because of a song that used to constantly play on the radio I have it pretty well memorized that there are 86,400 seconds in the average day."

- Vanilla_Neko

"Because of a song on the radio, I learned that the minimum expectation for displays of love can be measured in 500 miles."

- Slight_Bodybuilder25

Where the Grass is Greener... and Newer

"There were no grasses on the earth when dinosaurs were here."

- Snowfl4ke85

"During the Jurassic and the Early Cretaceous, the higher flora was dominated by cycads, ginkgoes, conifers, and ferns. Other groups of plants included extinct seed plants with fern-like foliage. The exact origins of flowering plants are uncertain, although evidence suggests that they are not closely related to any group of modern non-flowering plants."

"Flowering plants underwent rapid radiation beginning around the middle of the Cretaceous period, and makeup around 90% of living plant species today. With the spread of these plants came the decline of previously dominant groups such as conifers. During the Cretaceous, ferns would also begin to diversify."

"The oldest known fossils of grasses are from the Early Cretaceous, with the family having diversified into modern groups by the end of the Cretaceous. The oldest large flowering trees are known from the Late Cretaceous, with the trunk having a preserved diameter of one-point-eight meters and an estimated height of 50 meters."

- UnexpectedDinoLesson

Weird Way to Say Hello

"Manatees control their buoyancy by farting. Toot toot, floaty sea cow."

- Plane-Vacation-1228

"Wait, so those bubbles you see on the water surface that signify their presence are...?"

- DismalDude77

Goals for Building the Longest Train...

"There's no maximum length to a train, you just add another engine."

- TrueGritt90

"That tracks."

- Snedro

The Smallest Philosopher

"That dead ants produce a pheromone that alerts the other ants that they need to move them to the ant graveyard."

"If a drop of this pheromone is placed on a live ant, it will take itself to the graveyard and stay there until the pheromone dissipates."

- Jessi_L_1324

"The ant: Am I dead?"

- Professional_Stay748

"That ant would make a great philosopher."

- skatalite2020

High-Risk Flights

"Some military helicopters on aircraft carriers are made of magnesium and should they catch fire, it's literally impossible to put them out as the magnesium will take the oxygen from the water and use that to keep burning."

"So the only thing that can be done is to push them overboard and even as they sink they will continue to burn until the magnesium is completely burned up."

- Strange_Stage1311

The First Scapegoat

"Some tribes of ancient people used to tie up a goat, whisper their sins to it, then allow it to 'accidentally' escape so it would carry their sins away and thus resolve them of guilt."

"It was, literally, their 'escape goat,' and that's where the term 'scapegoat' comes from."

- TheAbyssGazesAlso

The Power of Percentages

"Percentages can be reversed."

"For example, five percent of ten is ten percent of five."

- Routine_Leading_4757

"43 years and I'm only learning this now."

- TheMechTech80

Wordy Phobias

"The fear of long words is called 'hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia.'

- Illustrious_Hawk_734

"Also, the fear of palindromes is called 'aibohphobia,' which just goes to show that the people who name phobias are a**holes."

- PhoenixMason13

"The question is, who even has a fear of palindromes?"

- ConduckKing

"Eve, Bob, and Hannah."

- Lostarchitorture

Not only are these facts unexpected, but it's wild to think that some of them are true.

But the simple, plain truth is that the truth is always all that simple. It can be weird and hard to believe, and yet, there it is.

Person holding up magnet of Florida
Done By Alex/Unsplash

In all deference to the people of Florida, the Sunshine State is not known for being the ideal place to live.

Aside from being a major tourist destination and an escape from the cold weather months in other parts of the country, the retirement refuge is reputable as being problematic and the butt of a joke for a number of reasons.

But the real kicker is the frequency at which many Florida residents make headlines for unhinged behavior earning them the label of "Florida Man," prompting the rest of the U.S. to shake their heads and remark, "Only in Florida."

Curious to hear about other parts of the world that have a similar reputation, Redditor Ltimbombo asked:

"What is the 'Florida' of Europe?"

These are almost, but not quite, Florida.

The "Crazy Sh*t" Stereotype

"In what sense? Spain's Costa del Sol ticks the 'entitled retiree destination' box but the 'people inexplicably doing crazy sh*t' stereotype firmly belongs to Russia."

– epeeist

Deutscheland

"Adam Carolla used to have a segment on his radio show called 'Florida or Germany' where he would read newspaper articles of strange crimes and callers would guess if it took place in Florida or Germany. I thought it was entertaining."

– CurvySmokeShow

It's A Zoo Out There

"As a Florida Man who has found an Alligator in my backyard before (no joke, this is serious) I’d definitely have to say Russia."

– anon

"I’ve had 2 pythons show up in the yard of the house I grew up in, years before it was widely known how invasive they were."

"Never got a gator though."

– Sss00099

Talking Geography

"In that the Ural mountains are the technical dividing line between Europe and Asia, I'll have to go with Western Russia. In particular, you could overlay Florida on top of the part of Russia that spans from Voronezh to Saratov and then down to Volgograd."

– themistergraves

Gotta love some o' the Brits.

Im-Posh-ters

"When I was in Barcelona this past June I had the opportunity to witness a young, trashy British couple act as though they were posh. It was then that I realized that the British are the Floridians of Europe."

– mattswa

"Ohhh trashy Brits are on another level, you have to see it to believe it lol."

– YetiPie

Defined By TV Shows

"I was in Dublin last summer, met some Brits from Leeds and they literally asked the Irish guy I was hanging out with if they had the same queen. Then when it came up I was american one of the women shrieked and said 'Young Sheldon’s me favorite tv show' and Jesus Christ I couldn’t help but laugh"

– BureaucraticHotboi

Admittedly Floridian

"Florida is kinda stupid for stupid’s sake. Here in the UK we tell ourselves we are civilised, refined, smart and in control while still doing equally stupid stuff."

– npri0r

Making Up For Size

"Blackpool, England. Admittedly it's on a smaller scale but what it lacks in size, it makes it up in STD rates, welfare distribution and average tooth count."

– DavosLostFingers

"Fun fact! Blackpool is the only city in the uk with the same average lifespan as the US!"

– TinyChairty4151

Feels Like Home

"I went on holiday to Britain, driving the whole island. Some seagulls nicked my chips and my pastie in Blackpool while some guy vomited into a trash can next to me. Same exact thing happened to me in Miami (swap the pastie for a taco). So ya this checks out."

– sothatsathingnow

Meanwhile, over in the Mediterranean...

Cretins

"It’s probably Greece and specifically Crete. People like to go there for vacation, it’s hot and all the people own guns and are conservative religious madlads."

– SpaceAgeIsLate

Italiano

"Italy, it's hot, full of tourist, and has a history of going facist."

– weedtrek

"And it's the wang of Europe."

– swash_mcbuckle

Looks like every Floridians are not alone in their tainted reputation thanks to the number of people who had to ruin everything.

But one thing seems certain.

It's doesn't seem to be about what's in the water Floridians drink.

There are several things in this life we know to be rare, resulting in millions of people seeking them out, or taking the opportunity to enjoy them.

These include seeing a solar or lunar eclipse, vintage bottles of wine, the first issue of a comic book, or being upgraded to first class without warning.

Sometimes, however, we take for granted certain things we just assume are part of daily life which are, in fact, quite rare.

Be it an uninterrupted night's sleep, a life-threatening illness, or a old recording on our DVR (or, for that matter a VHS!), some things we think can be enjoyed or could happen to anyone might be much harder to come by than we think.

Redditor f*ckandfrolic was curious to learn all about the seemingly everyday things that are, in fact, anything but common, leading them to ask:

"What is far more rare than people realize?"

Or, Perhaps, The Vaccines Are What Made It Rare?

"Tetanus."

"We get vaccines for it, but it's actually a bit harder to get than you may believe."- pheat0n

Meow

"Solid brown fur cats, apparently it’s some kind of recessive gene in them."- TheJadedSF

"We have a male tortoiseshell cat."

"Cat people tend to know they’re quite rare but others probably don’t."- Tacoma__Crow

In Love Cat GIFGiphy

You Never Know Who Your Friends Really Are...

"People who remain friends with you once you leave school."- GrockleKaug

"Good, honest friends who don’t have ulterior motives."

"The ones that genuinely enjoy your company and friendship."

"Hold onto them!"- ZealousidealWealth88

Think Carefully About The Last Time You Saw One...

"Blimps."

"I live in northeast Ohio near the Goodyear hangar."

"We see them all the time."

"I had to pull up a list, that northeast Ohio has 3 out of 4 operating Goodyear blimps named Wingfoot 1 2 and 3."

"Only maybe 12 are operating anywhere in the world, with a total of 25 existing at all."

"But we see them all the time at Wingfoot lake disc golf course."- Worried_Place_917·

good year zeppelin GIF by DiggGiphy

Making Others Green With Envy?

"Green eyes make up just two percent of the global population."- New-Tomorrow-4309

Not A Routine Occurrence

"Northern lights."

"The amount of people I’ve heard say: 'We’ve come all this way, what time do they come on?' Is staggering."- The_Town_of_Canada

Amen!

"Bit of peace and f*cking quiet."- Winoforevr1

Taking A Long, Hard Look At Ourselves...

"Humility and an understanding that we’re sometimes the victim and sometimes the perpetrator."

"No one is ever just one or the other."- Fitandfriendlydude

Money Talks

"Being a multi-millionaire."

"Lots of people faking it out here."- tab_completion

Some Might Say Thinking In General...

"Critical thinking skills."- hstarbird11

Thinking Think GIF by Rodney DangerfieldGiphy

Sobering Reality

"Clean water."

'My son and I have been discussing this lately."

"He is a chemical engineer and works exclusively with water."

"Many of the studies he has been published on also have to do with clean water and forever chemicals."

"Water is a huge issue that is becoming bigger everyday and normal people are forgetting about it."

"Flint Michigan is in year 9!"- No-Fishing5325

Rare, Or A Myth?

"A stable, loving, peaceful domestic life."- reginapinsley

In Dreams, Maybe...

"Absolute silence and being in a place where no man-made light exists."- whiskey_formymen

black and white dark GIFGiphy

Perhaps we can all rest a little easier knowing that some things that keep us up at night worrying are actually not a big deal in the slightest.

Or, next time we see and experience something truly beautiful, we might want to stop and truly take it in.

For all we know, we just experienced something that was truly once in a lifetime.


Two young boys are having a pillow fight
Photo by Allen Taylor

Parents are meant to teach offspring how to survive in this world.

They're meant to guide us on how to be a good member of society.

But either some parents fail, or too many adults don't get the message.

And all that can lead to a mighty dysfunctional adult.

Redditor spirallinggg wanted to hear about the ways we can decipher if others have bad parenting, so they asked:

"What immediately tells you that a person wasn't raised right?"

Basic human decency is a sign of a good upbringing.

Garbage

"They throw trash out a car window."

shershae

"I live on a busy road and I’m so sick of people throwing their trash in front of my house. Some guy tosses out a tall boy beer nearly every workday. I can’t wait to move. Also- so many cigarette butts! We live in a high fire hazard area so I’m worried one of these days they’ll start a fire. I try to go pick up litter twice a month."

Pinkmongoose

Random Aisles

"People who dump refrigerated grocery products on random aisles."

glockops

"I work in a grocery store. The best one I saw was someone who ordered a hot pizza from our pizza station, which is made-to-order. Then abandoned it in the cooler with the refrigerated take-and-bake pizzas we have."

"I get finding stuff from our service case abandoned, it's already cold and our prices are much higher than some people think (the last abandoned item I found was a $20 container of our fresh fruit salad [which comes in pre-cut]), but the pizza station has set menu prices, they should have known what they were getting into before they ordered."

weedtrek

Be Responsible

"Lack of personal accountability. they can never admit wrongdoing on their part. it's always someone else's fault."

Sona-kin

I always told my kids that a mistake doesn't define who you are... but what you do AFTER the mistake DOES. We're human. We're gonna screw up throughout our lives. It's unavoidable. What we can control, however, is choosing to apologize, fix the situation, make amends, etc."

nakedwithoutmyhoodie

Rude

Mean Girls Gossip GIF by Paramount MoviesGiphy

"When they talk badly about someone who hasn’t done anything wrong behind their back."

flowerzforthedead

THIS. I've seen coworkers talking behind the backs of new employees and drawing conclusions about every aspect of their lives. Like, you've seen that person for three days, you MF.

Cold-Load-4388

If you can't say it to their face, then don't say it.

Why do people have to crap talk?

Check Please

Escalate Customer Service GIF by FILMRISEGiphy

"Being super rude to people in any service profession. There is a time and place for actual, appropriate complaints but I see people constantly abuse service staff for no damn reason. Hell, even using 'please' and 'thank you' seems beyond some people. Bums me out."

CaptainLawyerDude

Others

"Lack of consideration for others."

NewVAinvestor1

"A lot of people do not fundamentally understand other people exist. They understand things exist. They understand those things should be referred to as people. But they do not understand those things have an entire existence and experience all their own exactly like them."

Sh3lls

No!

"When they can't take no for an answer."

NerdyPlaneResident

"I'm going to step up and admit to being guilty of this. For the longest time, I had it in my head that persistence pays off. Some of that was pop culture, some of that was tenacity in other areas of my life being rewarded, and then applying that to interpersonal relationships. Older and wiser me, though is more along the lines of learning to let go. It's still a struggle though, working against that original conditioning."

SergeantPsycho

Professions

"When someone looks down at others based on what they do. That just clearly shows that they've learned the same thing from their caregivers."

Leekayleigh_

"Oh yes. My husband took on a second job doing pizza deliveries. A few people laughed at him doing that at his age. They don't laugh when he explains his main job is simple and, deliveries are just driving blasting tunes and adds $900 a month after tax to our income. Then they see all the travel. Usually shuts them up."

CurvePuzzleheaded361

Offensive

For Real Wow GIF by DeStormGiphy

"Zero manners."'

Fuzzteam7

"I took a guy to a family beach condo because he says he never goes to the beach. Let him tag along with our group. Never said thank you one time. I dropped him back off at his house, and I said can you at least say thanks, he was so offended I asked or was trying to force a thank you."

berrey7

"BUT"

"When someone apologizes, and then adds a but onto it. For example, my boss held a meeting among the kitchen staff where he apologized for his attitude, and then added 'But you guys need to understand that I'm a no-bulls**t kind of person.' No sir, that's not how apologies work."

GimmickInfringement1

I hate a BUT.

Either you mean what you offer or don't say it.