11 Emotional Journeys That End Exactly How They Should

Real-life happy endings may not happen often, which is exactly why they feel so rewarding when they do. These rare but meaningful stories of triumph remind us that hope and perseverance can lead to something beautiful. And when a happy ending does come along, it’s worth celebrating.

• That morning, my husband rushed out the door, forgetting the lunch I packed for him. I decided to surprise him by bringing it to him.
  Walking into my husband’s office, I saw a young woman perched on his lap, laughing softly. My stomach dropped. Before I could say anything, the woman turned and gasped in horror. “That’s not how I wanted to meet you for the first time! You must be his wife!” she stammered, scrambling to stand up.
  My husband chuckled and said, “Relax, love, this is my niece.” She grinned, “I’ve been dying to meet you! He never stops talking about how amazing you are.” I let out a relieved laugh, feeling silly for jumping to conclusions.
  We ended up going out for coffee together, and she turned out to be one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. Now, she and I are closer than I ever expected.

• I dated this girl in high school for only a month. I knew she was special, but she was moving away for college. We decided to split because long distance wouldn’t work for us. I thought I lost her.
  I moved on, but I always wondered what would happen if we were still together. 5 years later, I get a text from an unknown number asking me to come to a bar in my city. Confused, I reply and ask who it is.
  Turns out it was her. She had kept my number all this time. Anyways, I went to the bar. It was like we never separated. We just talked, joked, and had a great time.
  One thing led to another, and I married her. She is amazing, and I would not trade her for anything. © panken / Reddit

• I walked into my apartment to find my boyfriend on his knees, rummaging through my purse. “You’re not supposed to be home yet!” he blurted out, eyes wide. My heart stopped. “Excuse me?”
  He sighed and confessed, “I was actually looking for your phone,” he said hesitantly. “I saw a message pop up from your ex, and it threw me off.” Puzzled, I frowned—I hadn’t heard from my ex in years. He quickly added, “But then I found this in your wallet.” He held up a simple yet elegant engagement ring. It turned out, he had planned to propose to me that evening by surprise, but my unexpected early return led him to improvise with the story about my ex.

• There was a blind guy, who had a loyal dog. The dog was his best friend for 5 years and stayed with him all the time. The blind guy got offered a guide dog which would help him so much more in life, but the catch was that he would have to give up his original dog. He was devastated, and waited until the last possible minute to give his dog to the shelter.
  We saw this dog and brought him home as company for our own dog, this energetic pointer now has 10 acres to run around, and it was hilarious watching him getting used to being able to run and leap around. He has the company of our other dog and also now goes hunting out in the bush with my SO. He’s not with his original owner, but he is loved and is in a happy place. © Merkinfumble / Reddit

• I started working for the company she was head of HR at. The moment I laid eyes on her in the hallway the first time (I was hired by the company owners remotely), I knew I’d spend the rest of my life with her. She just had something about her, and I knew I had to have it forever.
  Turns out, she thought the same thing. We were both unhappily involved with others at the time. Ended it with our other SOs, got together, ended up leaving the company and went on to start our own businesses.
  Our relationship and our businesses are thriving many years later. I despise cold weather and never wanted to be a father, but now I live in a cold weather location, and I am a proud stepdad to two awesome kids. And I couldn’t be happier because I have the love of my life to share it all with. © Unknown author / Reddit

• My family has been in a lot of financial trouble, and I was really stressed out about paying for college. But just last week, I found out that all my scholarships and grants cover my tuition, and I don’t have to pay any of it back. I even have enough to cover my books. I couldn’t be happier! © lemonylimey / Reddit

• I have a dog. My sister brought a cat home. My dog was very slow to trust newcomers, so we were very nervous how he’d react to a new cat; as far as we knew, he’d never met one.
  He loved her. Walked right up and gave her a kiss on her grumpy face. If you picked the cat up and walked away, he would follow you with an anxious look to make sure you didn’t drop her. © Poorly-Drawn-Beagle / Reddit

• We had a snow storm. One of our doctors contacted an elderly couple (patients), and they told her that their boiler had broken. No one would come out for 3 days. They had a log burner, but not fire starters, coal, or wood.
  The doctor went out on her lunch break, in the snow, to buy them everything they needed and brought it to them. That’s a real doctor and real care. © Girlinawomansbody / Reddit

• I have a very old cat. He’s 17 and massively grumpy. He spends most of his time sleeping on the couch, which is fine, he’s old and deserves to relax. The stairs are hard for him these days, and he almost never goes upstairs.
  But once a month or so he goes, “I wanna cuddle,” and hauls himself up the stairs. He flaps up onto the bed, because he struggles to get up on it. I have little stairs beside the bed for this exact purpose, he does not need to ride the struggle bus to get up there, but he does. It’s kind of cute, even though I worry he’s going to hurt himself. © KnittinAnd*** / Reddit

• When my father passed away, my closest friends held a small and personal gathering for me. There, I received a painting one of my best friends did. It was a painting of a picture I had of my family at a dinner table over Christmas many years ago, it’s such a happy moment. It made me cry, but it was the most beautiful, most thoughtful gifts I’ve ever received. © Unknown author / Reddit

• My parents never adopted him, but when I was 14, we had a 15-year-old boy move in with us who stayed until he was 21. It was very strange for me as a teenage girl to have an older boy, who I’d never met, move into my house and to see my parents take him in as one of their own.
  There were suddenly all these rules for me, like I wasn’t allowed to wear pajamas around the house or be home alone with him for the first year or so. However, he turned out to be the loveliest kid. While we never really got over the awkwardness and never really bonded, the whole experience was overwhelmingly positive.
  In particular, my mum became much happier with the fulfillment that she got from the experience, as she’d been struggling to find purpose in her life. He’ll never know how much our family improved from having him, and I hope one day I’ll have the chance to tell him. © zero_one_zero_one / Reddit

The love within a family is truly unique, and the connections shared are deep and irreplaceable. Adoption comes with its own challenges, but it’s just as meaningful and valuable as any other family journey. Don’t miss 16 Heartwarming Stories About Adoption That Can Make You Ugly Cry.