The Internet is full of stories about dating “red flags”–those moments when a person realizes a potential romantic partner is decidedly NOT for them. “He still lives in his parents basement!” “She boiled a bunny!” “He has a secret family!” You’ve heard tons of them.
Less often do you hear stories about the opposite moment, when a person realizes the person they’re dating is someone they want to spend their life with. And sure, those stories are usually a lot less funny, but they’re no less interesting. After all, ever relationship is different, and so every “green flag” is different.
Fortunately, the folks over at Buzzfeed asked their readers to share their green flag moments, and they delivered. Scroll down and check out how 15 people realized their date was The One.
1. Potter Heads
“When my now-husband and I had been dating for about two weeks, I started to introduce him to the Harry Potter movies. He had never seen them before and I’m a huge fan. We were at the grocery store buying food for dinner before our third Harry Potter night and he suggested we buy ingredients to make butterbeer. I knew then and there that I loved this man! We’ve been married five years and he’s still the most amazing person I know!”
2. Pain Relief
“My now-husband and I had only been dating for a few months when my chronic pain became unbearable and I broke down while in the shower at his apartment. Due to the pain, I couldn’t reach up to rinse my hair, and I started crying. He came into the bathroom, wiped my tears, and compassionately and tenderly rinsed my hair and washed my body. He gently toweled me dry and laid me down in bed so I could rest. I fell in love with him completely that day and the last three years we’ve been married have been the best years of my life.”
3. Froyo makes everything better.
“We met online, and talked for about a month and a half before we met in person. I had to have jaw surgery during that time, but we were both too anxious to wait any longer. Our first date was a week after my surgery and my cheeks were HUGE! He thought it was cute and took me out on frozen yogurt dates for a while since I couldn’t eat solid food. We’ve been together for almost five years and have one child!”
4. It’s all about the onions.
“I know this might sound weird, but several months before my husband and I started dating, we were just friends and talked about foods we liked and I mentioned I liked onions on my ham sandwiches. On our second date a few months later, we went hiking and made food for each other. I made him a turkey sandwich without tomato because I remembered he doesn’t like them. He made me a ham sandwich with onions. My husband wooed me with onions.”
5. Pet insurance.
“I went on a few Tinder dates with this guy who was so open and honest. He didn’t have any game, and was just incredibly kind and unassuming. When he told me he had pet insurance for his dog, I thought it was the sexiest thing ever. Respectful, honest, AND responsible? Sign me up for that! We’ve been dating almost three years, and I love him more every day.”
6. Smell ya later.
“One night when a guy I’d been briefly seeing was leaving my place, I noticed he had already put his sweater on, but left his shirt on the couch. When I told him he was about to forget his shirt, he said, ‘I wore two! The other day you said you liked the way they smelled, so I’m leaving one for you.’ I blurted out, ‘I love you!’ That was 14 years ago and we’ve been together ever since.”
7. Not trying to change me.
“At a friend’s wedding, I was being very loud and boisterous with my BFF and my date was being very quiet. With my ex, she would always get mad at me for being too loud. Because of that, I was really worried when my date was being quiet — just like my ex did when she got upset with me. But instead, my date told me she was being quiet because she was captivated by the way I let loose with my friends. She was admiring her view of a happy, beautiful girl and didn’t want to interrupt. We get married in June.”
8. Compassion for the needy.
“My now-husband and I were leaving a restaurant pretty early in our relationship when a homeless man approached us. The man said that we looked so in love that he was moved to sing us a song. The man sang for us in his beautiful voice, and when he was done, my husband gave him a long, sincere hug, asked his name, and thanked him for the gift. I knew that this guy would be the one I wanted to be with forever.”
9. A great gift giver.
“For my first date with a guy, I got him flowers. The next time I saw him, he had made them into matching bookmarks since we spent so much time talking about the books we were reading.”
10. Mr. Fix It
“I had just bought my first house and was living alone. The first time I ever had my now-husband over for dinner, my kitchen sink started leaking everywhere! I was in such a state of panic, but luck had it that he was a plumber! He crawled right under the sink and fixed the issue without even hesitating.
The next morning, I got a knock on my door: There he was with a brand new garbage disposal to install. You really get to know people by the way they support you in times of crisis — even if it’s just a leaking sink.”
11. Liking me for me.
“I wear glasses and have a habit of scrunching up my nose to get them back in place when they start to slide down. My parents always joked that they would never get me married off if I kept doing it. It happened multiple times on my first date with my now-boyfriend, and he told me he thought it was adorable. He smiles every time I do it now. We’ve been together almost three years and have a puppy.”
12. Two morbid peas in a morbid pod.
“Four years ago, I met a Tinder match for brunch. We were having great conversation and connecting really well when I made an offhanded joke about serial killer Elizabeth Bathory. I was nervous that he: 1) might not know who the hell Elizabeth Bathory was, or 2) would know who she was and be concerned about my true crime fascination. But in turn, he laughed so loudly and followed it up with his own Ed Gein joke. We’ve been married two years and are expecting our first child together in May.”
13. How he treats his exes.
“My current boyfriend has an ex-wife. When we covered this topic in the ‘getting to know you’ stage, he spoke about her and their failed marriage with so much respect. I’m used to hearing guys talk about exes like, ‘Man, she’s so crazy, I hate her so much, she was my biggest mistake,’ etc. But there was none of that. I think you can tell a lot about how someone will treat you by the way they speak of their previous relationships.”
14. How he treats his Mom.
“I met my husband when we were both living at home. On one of our first dates, we ended up staying up all night. We didn’t want to leave each other, so he invited me to his house — but he warned me that his mom was sick at home.
When we first got to his house, he rushed to his mom’s side to make sure she was comfortable, not in pain, and had everything she needed. They say you should look at how a man treats his mom to see how he will treat his wife. This is the moment I started falling in love.”
15. Being there.
“We were in college and had just started dating, and unfortunately my dog back home was very sick and ready to go to doggie heaven. Without saying a word, he drove me three and a half hours back to my hometown so I could say goodbye.”
h/t: Buzzfeed