Isn't love beautiful? These 16 people sure seem to think it is.
36 years old, together for 17 years
Yes, I love him. We told each other after about a year of dating. In college, you are around your partner a lot more than in the real world. We spent a lot of time together. Back in the day of AOL messaging, we had conversations that lasted for days. We told each other there, but we both knew long before we spoke it. We saw each other later that day (of course!).
49 years old, together for 29 years
I love him insanely. I know it is cliche, but I love him more every single day. I knew about three dates in that this was the man I wanted to spend my life with. I honestly don't remember the first time we said I love you, but I will say that not a single day goes by without saying it at least once.
19 years old, together for 2 years
I do love my significant other. I knew that I loved him around the time that we officially started dating (the long distance thing makes the timeline awkward, and we don't have an "official" anniversary). I don't remember saying "I love you" to him for the first time as being this big ordeal, I think we both just progressed into the feeling and just started saying it. I don't even remember specifically the first time we said "I love you" to each other. But we do say it now, and I know that we both mean it.
18 years old, together for 1.5 years
I am not really sure when I told him I loved him. I think it was kind of early, but I never actually said it because I felt like it was way too early. I convinced myself that I was only in love with the idea of him at that point, but I was fooling myself honestly. I might have accidentally sent him a tweet that said "I love you" in it. He sent it back to me and I realized what it said so I asked him if he realized that was in it and he said yes. It is a love story for the digital age.
19 years old, together for 6 years
Oh gosh, I have loved him probably longer than I can recall, like I can't remember a time I didn't love him and didn't tell him. We would tell each other we loved each other even before we started dating, so there was never an "I love you" for the first time moment for us.
20 years old, together for 3 years
I 100% love him. I knew I loved him about three months into our relationship, which seems quick, but I have had a really bad past with guys that I dated. When we started dating and he treated me right, I knew I loved him because I had never been treated right before him. I didn't tell him right away but hinted at it. I let him have time to find those feelings for me. I waited for another five months for him to tell me he loved me. I didn't want to rush him into anything, and when he finally told me it was so worth the wait.
19 years old, together for 4 years
Yes I love him, and somehow I knew I always loved him. Even though I waited about a month to tell him, telling him was one of the most amazing things I had ever done. He knew that I had recently been hurt by a horrible ex-boyfriend, and we were on the phone and I was crying hoping he wouldn't be upset with me being afraid to be in love and that I was afraid of being with someone and I just said, "I love you, even though I'm afraid I'm giving you all that I have left," and thank god he didn't reject it because I honestly don't know where I would be today.
18 years old, together for 4 years
I knew after about six months. He claims he knew right away. He said he loved me quite quickly. I didn't say it back until I realized it. Apparently, everyone around me knew that I loved him before I did! I knew there was something different with him, but I didn't realize that this was what love was like. I was actually describing how I felt about him to his mom, and she's the one that made me realize that this is what love is. After having that long, eye-opening talk with his mom, I said it back. He ALWAYS would say he loved me, even though I never said it back.
20 years old, together for 1 year
Yes, I love my significant other. I knew I loved him about three months into the relationship. He told me he loved me during the "Star Wars" movie where Han Solo gets frozen in carbonite, and I said it right back.
50 years old, together for 31 years
I knew within the first week of dating that I loved her with all my heart. It didn't hurt that she moved in with me six days after the first date.
20 years old, together for 1 year
I do love him. We had been friends and talked to each other every day for months before we started to date. To be honest, I loved him as a friend first, so I am not necessarily sure when I realized that I truly loved him in a romantic sense. I think it was about a month in when I told him I loved him in the romantic sense, but I definitely told him before we were dating and just friends.
55 years old, together for 24 years
Love him like crazy, yes! We had known each other forever. Both divorced from other partners within a two year period. Started hanging out as friends with our kids just as mutual supportive single parents. One summer night we were at his house late. It was dark but super hot. Most of the kids had fallen asleep while watching a movie. When the movie was over, he and I and the one kid who was still awake decided to take a quick dip in the pool before I and my girls left. I was just beginning to realize I was attracted to him and didn't know that he was in return. My daughter never even noticed when he suddenly kissed me without warning in the pool. I was so stunned I didn't know how to react. Said I had to go, got the kids and left. He gave me time to get home and settled, then called. We talked for hours. I knew before that night was over that we would be together.
19 years old, together for 1.5 years
Oddly enough, I felt like I knew him very well before we even met in person since we had been talking for months at that point (texting, Snapchatting, phone calls, and Skype). Every time that we would ask a question or talk about something, we found that we had extremely similar goals and ideals and that we shared a lot of likes and dislikes. I never would have expected to fall in love with someone that way, but we both exchanged "I love you's" the first week that we actually met, before we even officially started dating. I appreciated meeting him this way because the focus was on conversation rather than physical connection.
23 years old, together for 9 months
I love him so much. I really cared about him before we started dating so it was relatively soon in the established relationship. I am pretty sure it was about 3-5 weeks into the relationship and I was like oh no I love him, and it is way too soon to say something, I was going to scare him away. I knew I needed to tell him, but I was planning to push it back a week or two. Luckily, I didn't have to do anything. One morning I slept over and as we were getting ready for the day he mumbled something that I couldn't hear so I was like what? And then he said more loudly that he loved me. I was so happy and immediately told him I loved him back and then we laughed about his mumbling and talked about how I was planning to tell him soon too.
22 years old, together for 1.5 years
I absolutely love this man more than life itself. It was about 3 - 3.5 months in when I knew I loved him. He told me first but not directly... instead of saying "I love you" he said "I (lava) you" for about a month.
20 years old, together for 1.5 years
Yes, I love my boyfriend. I knew I loved him about a month in but it wasn't until three months in that the first "I love you's" were said. I get anxiety about telling people how I feel about them, so I usually keep it bottled until they say something and then I just spill. The first time it was said, I was staying the night at his house and we had fallen asleep together in the chair in their living room and at one point we woke up and he said to me that he loved me. I said it back but I was afraid that he has said it because he wasn't really awake and therefore he didn't mean it, but the next day he reassured me that he meant it. Now not a day goes by without us saying that we love each other.
Love is confusing and scary, but as these 16 people know it is also one of the most wonderful things in the world.
