1. My girlfriend remembers every detail of when we first started dating. On a long drive together, one of our songs came on and she described the first night we listened to it and when she fell in love with me. She didn’t even finish the story because it just broke me. I was leaking tears and it wouldn’t stop. Get a partner who appreciates your efforts.

2. She made me a scrapbook of our entire relationship and saved everything from all our previous dates in order to put it into the book.

3. I lost my favorite pair of sunglasses at a building on campus. By the time I realized I was in my dorm and was swamped with a paper. I was upset and expressed this to her. She left and came back soaking wet. She went back to campus and walked along every path I had taken and checked the building for me to try and find them as a pick me up. Unfortunately she couldn’t find them but it was so sweet.

4. During one of our first interactions, we casually talked about me loving chocolates. She brought chocolates on our first date. Every kind of chocolates, from bars to chips to lozenges.

5. I hooked up with a girl and she was gone when I woke up, but she left a note saying, “There’s Fruity Pebbles on the counter.” I had mentioned I like to eat cereal after having sex. I married her.

6. 4 days ago my wife came home from work and revealed that she had a copy of Final Fantasy VII Remake tucked into her pants. She didn’t have any underwear on either, naturally I could not decide what I wanted to do first.

7. My girlfriend had flowers sent to my work. It’s the only time I’ve ever been given flowers, by anyone… ever. I’m a 33 year old prior active duty Marine who’s been to war. I still cried. Get your man flowers, girls.

8. I was running a fever and slept on the couch outside. Throughout the night I would wake up to see my girlfriend kneeling on the floor, using a wet handkerchief to sponge me down. I love her so much.

9. In the movie “Die Hard” a girl runs and throws herself into the arms of a guy she is meeting, who is getting off of a plane. She jumps up and into his arms. Ever since I saw that, oh so many years ago, I’ve wanted someone to be so thrilled to greet me that they threw themselves into my arms like that. It took me 40+ years, but it did eventually happen, and the girl had no idea it was something I’d always fantasized about. It became a thing for us – when we hadn’t seen each other in a while, she’d run and just jump into my arms.

10. I’m pretty simple. Little gestures go a long with me. This past week has been absolutely terrible for reasons completely unrelated to my relationship. My girlfriend insisted (despite my protests) that I head over and spend the night with her to take my mind off of the many things I had going on at my own house. She had my favorite wine ready, a Netflix comedy special ready to go, and then she woke me up this morning with a back massage and an awesome homemade breakfast bagel sandwich. I feel like the luckiest dude there is.

11. She wrote reasons why she loves me every single day for 365 days to give me on our first anniversary. I spent the next year reading one every day.

12. I don’t know what other people think of as something romantic that women do for men, but to me, it doesn’t take much. If she buys me the drinks I like at the store without me asking, that tells me she thinks about me when I’m not around, and that she cares. That’s all the romance I need.

13. Not a romantic, but here goes… My wife sent a me a letter when I was away for three months working on a project. She wrote in some detail what she wanted me to do to her when I got back. It was a masterpiece.

14. She was a graffiti artist. An excellent one and the kind that would sneak into rail yards. She did a mini mural with my first name and the date. I have a picture and look at it all the time.

15. Once a woman dropped off a 6 pack of beer and dinner for me and my roommate after a LONG day at work!

16. Not sure if it was the most romantic, but after three years of marriage, my wife wrapped her drivers license up and gave it as a gift to show me that she changed her name. Prior to that, I never cared about her changing her name, but I thought that it was really sweet that she did that on her own. Especially with my shit name.

17. She listened to me. She listened. Not judging. Not even silently judging. Not even a little impatient. Slow honest listening. I could marry her for that.

18. Bought me a rare out-of-print book that I thought I would never own.

19. It was my 31st birthday and my lady asked all of my friends and family to wish me a happy birthday from a video made in their homes (due to CoViD-19) and edited it together into a 10 minute video. She randomly streamed it on the TV shortly after midnight. It made me feel amazing!

20. I was at a picnic with her large family, and already being a socially anxious person, was absolutely wearing The Mask. Full cascades of sound pouring over me, difficulty hearing people talk, couldn’t make eye contact.

This was super early in our relationship. She glanced at me to check in, saw The Mask, and under the table, gently took my hand in her lap and began tracing the back of it with her fingernails.

It was the most loving form of grounding I’ve ever experienced, and I hope wherever she is she knows how much that meant to me.

21. She gave me those cards that said: “Open when you feel sad,” “Open when you feel happy,” “Open when you want to know how much I care about you.”

22. My wife paid off all my debt and student loans with a smile and hugged me after she did. She didn’t have an inch of sadness parting with all that money.

23. My last girlfriend arranged a surprise birthday party for me at a trampoline park. I was turning 30.

24. My wife cut my hair tonight because I can’t go to the barber and she knew it was bugging me.

25. She bought us tickets to Cedar Point even though she was afraid of roller coasters.

26. I dated a girl who decorated a matchbox with the message, “We’re a great MATCH!” She filled it with edible “matches”; little pretzel sticks dipped in colored chocolate at the end to look like a match. She clearly put a lot of thought and effort into it, which was really what meant the most to me.

27. My birthday was the 9th and since we can’t go out she made me my own escape room in our house. It made me feel so loved I almost cried. I lucked out with the greatest girl in the world.

28. I had watched an animated Disney music video and really enjoyed the song. Weeks later, the girl I was dating surprised me by playing the song and singing it for me. She had been practicing to surprise me.

29. Pulled me to a dance floor dragging a chair behind her, standing up on the chair and we danced…. I’m quite tall.

30. I didn’t have a mattress throughout high school, and my then girlfriend came over for the first time and she looked very disgruntled, so she talked to her parents and arranged a surprise visit for me to go to Ikea and get a bed and a desk, I’ve never loved someone so much.

31. I was having a rough day and she simply put my head on her lap and petted my head and gently scratched me until I fell asleep.

32. Helped me move. I never felt more loved than when I was flipping the hell out trying to get packed and figure out how I was going to get everything to my apartment and my very organized girlfriend drove out from an hour away several nights in one week to help me make it happen.

33. I broke my leg 3 months into a relationship (unrelated to the relationship). My family had just left town that day. I had emergency surgery; she drove me to the surgery, picked up my meds during the surgery, picked me up when I woke up, drove me back to her place and took care of me for a month there. This included sponge baths, waking up to give me pain killers in the middle of the night so I wouldn’t wake up in agony, having food for me during the day when she went to work, and making sure I was happy overall. 4 years later and we are still together. If all that shit ain’t romantic, I don’t know what is.

34. On my birthday a few years ago my girlfriend told me to pack my bags and some warm gear. I thought she was taking me on a surprise camping trip, but instead we hopped on a train to the airport and flew to Norway.

We ended up going husky sledding, spending the night in a yurt at the husky lodge, going snowmobiling up to a canyon, staying in an ice hotel, and going on a northern lights tour (lucky enough to catch a particularly awesome display too).

She also made the effort to get in touch with a guy I had recently done some business with online who I had really liked. He picked us up from the airport in a chauffeur hat with a sign, and then took us all around Oslo to see the sights and to meet his family.

Truly a special holiday. We’re now engaged.

35. My girlfriend paid for a maritime course that I couldn’t afford so that I could get a higher license and a better paying job. We’re married now and I’m a Captain.