Women of Internet, when and how did you realize that you wanted to spend the rest of your life with your S.O.?

After our first road trip together. Normally after a long trip with someone, I want to have my time to myself away from them to recharge. When I got home after that trip though, I still wanted to hang out.

That hasn’t changed.

It was about into a year of dating. I loved him, we lived together, but wasn’t 1000% sold yet.

We got a new dog, she came from Craigslist and she was 9 months old and “too much” for the owners older dog. We wanted a friendly dog to help bring my nervous anxiety dog out of his shell. We met at a park and the two dogs hit it off so we took her home.

Very quickly we came to learn that she would pee from excitement every time we came home, and she would jump up and lick your face AGGRESSIVELY. Like it was pathological that she HAD to lick your face or she wasn’t okay.

My husband (bf at the time) got upset one day when he came home and she peed on the carpet. He was all cursing and stomping around. I turned to him and told him that being pissed about it was unacceptable. We could either take the dog back now before I got attached, or he could learn how to properly train her and put the time and effort into it.

He thought about what I said for a little while and then he very quietly came to me and said “I want to keep her”.

He then spent hours(days) watching videos and learning about dog behavior. We started letting her outside when we got home before coming in the house so she could potty outside. Then we transitioned to crate training until she really understood outside is where we pee. We practiced not kicking faces and giving her tricks and other behaviors to do instead.

Mica bonded with my husband so intensely sometimes I wonder if I’m the “other woman”. But watching him go through that process solidified to me that he is a keeper and the man I want to have children with. Mica is 9 now and I don’t think he’s every gotten frustrated at her again.

I was making us smoothies for breakfast. I lifted up the blender and it wasn’t attached to the base; the full blender of smoothie went everywhere — absolutely coated the counter, the floors. Huge mess and breakfast ruined. I froze because that’s exactly the kind of things previous partners and my abusive father had yelled at me for.

But she started laughing and grabbed the paper towels. Not laughing at me, laughing because it was just really funny. And we laughed and cleaned it up together.

I realized I would always be safe with her. That she would help me solve problems. That little things wouldn’t become big things.

The day that we met. I had never automatically felt so at home with a person before. I think about that moment a lot.

We were dating for about 4 months; when my (now our) cat got a horrible infection. He was my calm during that storm. He split the vet bill with me; refused to let me pay it alone as “we are partners in everything”

3 years later and we truly are partners in everything.

Truthfully-after our first date! I told my colleagues, who were with me at the time, I was going to marry him when I laid eyes on him. A month later, we went on our first date. 33 years ago I said I DO! Love him beyond words!

From the moment we met, we never stopped texting/calling/hanging out. It was none of these dating games of “I’m gonna wait until he calls first”. We just immediately clicked and felt comfortable with each other.

I went through some really rough mental health times early on in our relationship. Guys always thought I was a great time during my highs, but ducked out pretty quick during my lows. He stuck around through all of it and continued to love me. I quite literally owe that man my life.

We had a fight and he lost it. Threw things. Yelled at the top of his lungs. Acted like a toddler. I said calmly that I was leaving, that he would call me tomorrow and apologize, and that he meet with a therapist within the next 2-3 weeks if he wanted to stay together. The next morning he called, he apologized, he went to therapy, and it hasn’t happened again. He showed he was willing to put in the work that needed to be put in to change for the better. He just did it because he wanted to be with me so he became the man I deserved.

Maybe not romantic, but most of life isn’t.

I knew he was the one when I spent the night on our first date. We were cuddling and he fell asleep and was breathing on the back of my neck, and I didn’t have the urge to kill him.

Honestly after our first meeting I knew I felt really connected to Him and didn’t want to be away from him ever again. Later that year in the summer we spent a day just hanging out in his office at home, just each playing computer games while watching movies on his second screen. It was just a perfect simple day, and it clicked suddenly that he was the love of my life. We just had our first child last month and couldn’t be happier 😊💕 R+K 💕