From Tiny Moments To Huge Gestures, People Are Revealing Exactly When They Realized Love Is Real

Have you ever heard the saying, "When you know, you know?"

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I was curious about what those moments looked like for people, so I asked the BuzzFeed Community to share the experiences that made them believe in love.

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In honor of Valentine's Day, here are some adorable stories about the times people realized love is legit, from tiny but super-sweet moments to big, meaningful gestures:

1."Three weeks into our relationship, when I was just 17 and he was 18, my now-husband said, 'When we get married, we will live by the sea.' He never proposed; we just knew. We hit 25 years together this year and have been married for 22. And we live by the sea!"

2."I realized I was in stupid, crazy, can’t think about anything else, dizzy love when I didn’t want to marry him. Being with him was absolutely enough. He ended up proposing, married 11 years this year."

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"I know it sounds backwards, but I thought relationship = marriage, no matter what. He was the first that I could just be with, even without marriage." — witchyribbon84

3."Any time my dog falls asleep on me. That's what truly makes me believe."

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— courtneys4b6890e90

4."When my current husband and I were dating, my ex was flaking on his weekend (with our daughter) again. My husband left the room. When I went after him, he was in the hall shaking. I asked 'What's wrong?' and he just turned to me and said, 'How can he keep doing this to her? I can't understand how he is okay with breaking her heart over and over.'"

"We had only been dating a few months then, and my whole heart exploded because he was so upset when he saw the pain my daughter had to endure with her bio dad. He stepped up and IN our lives without forcing us to move any faster than we felt safe. 8 years later, I still swoon when I remember." — beechase

5."I had gotten into a pretty bad car accident and broke three ribs. My (now) fiancé picked me up from the hospital and was making dinner. When he told me he was going to grab a plate for me, it took a little bit longer than usual. When he brought me my plate, all of the food was cut up for me. When I asked him about it he said he 'wanted to make sure I didn’t have to struggle.'"

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"It still brings a tear to my eye that he was so concerned about my comfort and would think about how eating could be hard for me. We are getting married this fall and I can’t wait." — wrightkwann

6."Love to me is knowing that you can trust someone and that you care about them. I learned this about my family. Pre-COVID, I was a little 6th grader making honor roll. Family was important, but I never fully took the time to express gratitude. It was just all about grades and studying. When I was in lockdown, knowing that my family loved me and cared for me more then ever made me realize that love isn’t just with significant others, it’s with family."

7."One time my boyfriend and I spent the night at our friend’s house after a night of drinking. The next morning, I realized that I came down with a horrible cold. It was 5 in the morning, and a friend’s car was blocking our car in the driveway. He didn’t want to wake up our friend, so he ended up walking for an hour to the store and back to get me some medicine, at 5 a.m., in the cold."

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— Tu Tran

8."One of my dad's good buddies struggled with ALS for 3 years before he died. Everyone (his wife and two daughters, my parents and their friends, his daughters' friends and teachers and coaches, etc.) all rallied around him to make his and his family's life so much easier, which allowed him to soak up all the love he could get before his far-too-early passing."

"Just the fact that people would still love him even though he eventually couldn't talk (using a small screen instead), had to use a wheelchair and ate through a tube was just so inspiring. The judgement was gone and the love overflowed." — ieatraw_eggs123

9."I one time woke up to my dog laying parallel to me (she thought she was a person). When she noticed I was awake, she gave me this dopey little smile and snuggled in closer. I always worried if my dogs actually loved me, but in that moment I knew."

10."My grandma passed away a month prior to my 10th birthday. She was one of the most important people to me. She and my grandpa had been married for 53 years at that point. It tore my grandpa apart, and he only survived her by about 10 years. A couple years before he passed, we were talking and he told me that every single night since she died, he would look at the night sky and find the brightest star. He told me that that star was my grandma, and he would talk to her every night. I was blown away by that and knew then how deeply he loved her."

11."The moment I first laid eyes on him. I’ll never forget it."

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— somenortherner

12."When I saw my niece for the first time when she was a few hours old, the first thought that popped into my head was 'I love her.'"

13."A few years ago, a younger male colleague manipulated me into emotionally cheating on my husband. At that time, the two of us were going through a rough patch after a major life changing situation. My husband discovered the whole thing and instead of calling it quits, he sat me down and said, 'I know that's not you. Tell me how it started.'"

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"When I explained what had happened, and the realization of the seriousness of the situation sunk in, I broke down. We've worked out our issues and put the whole situation to a rest. I've never been more thankful for the firm faith my husband has in me. Love isn't just about being with your loved one through the highs. It's sticking around through the lows." — savithri1189

14."When my boyfriend and I first started dating, he came to my dorm room to help me pack my stuff the night before leaving for the summer with roses and jellybeans (my favorite candy). He packed up everything with me and was just about to leave at 1 a.m. when the fire alarm went off. He refused to leave me even though I would have waited with the rest of the building and would not have been alone. He had only slept 3 hours the night before and had to be up early, but stayed until I was let back in the building at 3 a.m. I felt so loved and he makes me feel this loved every day."

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— atokad

Have any other swoon-worthy stories about the moment you realized love was real? Share 'em in the comments!

Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.