12 Moments That Show Romance Is Really About Small Acts of Kindness

Grand romantic gestures may look impressive, but real love usually shows itself in much quieter ways. It appears in patience, understanding, and small acts of kindness when things get difficult. The stories in this article come from people who realized that love feels most real in the simplest moments.

• When my ex’s grandmother died, I went to see her and gave her a hug. A big one. Although we had just broken up and didn’t end things on the best terms, I was still hurt for her and kept hugging her until she let go.
  16 years later, she reached out to me again last month to let me know that her dad had passed away. I hadn’t heard from her in all those years, but I know that the compassion we shared in that moment put us on a path of mutual respect that will last forever. There will always be care. Just not love. © PigeonFace / Reddit
• Sometimes when my partner loses something and can’t find it, the item ends up somewhere mundane (on the table or by the sink, for example.) I’ll pretend that it fell behind something or tipped into a drawer so that she doesn’t feel silly for missing it. It’s always in the same general area (I don’t want her to think she’s going crazy), but sometimes I exaggerate how concealed the item was. © theStinkiestPete / Reddit
• My mom has an old friend who has both Parkinson’s disease and dementia. She’s been battling it for as long as I can remember. The combination of these diseases has caused her to lose weight, forget things, lose bodily functions, and hunch over so much that she looks like she’s contorting into a ball.
  Her husband, Paul, has selflessly cared for her as she has rapidly declined over the past 17 years. He feeds her, clothes her, bathes her, and cares for her tenderly day in and day out. He tells her he loves her. He is the primary caregiver.
  Every day, he wakes up knowing that she will never get better and that her condition is terminal. Yet, he still loves her and cares for her every day. This is the purest love I know: He is a husband who sticks by his wife in such a horrible, sad, and debilitating state of illness. To me, this is true and pure love. © Unknown author / Reddit

• After delivering my daughter by C-section, I had to stay in the hospital for a week to give my incision time to heal properly. My daughter was in the NICU.
  One morning, I woke up feeling especially depressed, and my husband came in and said, “I have a surprise for you.” I thought he would bring me my baby, but instead he brought me pozole from the hospital cafeteria. I couldn’t help but burst into tears because my heart was broken.
  His efforts just made me love him more. I ate the entire bowl of pozole. It was disgusting, but he’ll never know. © Lemongrass29 / Reddit
• I once spent a week in the hospital. My wife rushed me to the ER in the middle of the night because we had no idea what was wrong with me. The ER doctors couldn’t figure it out, so I was admitted for observation.
  While I was there, I was on a liquid diet only. I think it was the second night that I told her I would kill for some applesauce. She walked down to the cafeteria to get me some, but she came back and said, “Bad news. They don’t have applesauce. But I got an apple and a spoon!”
  “Okay, honey. What are you going to do with that?” “I’m going to make you applesauce!” I just lost it. I had this image of her with the apple and spoon, trying to mash the apple in a bedpan to make me applesauce.
  Once I stopped laughing, I said, “Oh, honey! That’s so sweet! But you have to cook the apples first to make applesauce.” She had no idea!
  She was amazed, but her willingness to do whatever it took to get me applesauce during one of the worst times in my life made me fall even more in love with her. © Team-We-Suck / Reddit
• My partner stayed with my family and me through December and into January. He purposely left two of his sweaters, a pair of pants, and one of his hats so that I could smell them and feel comforted by his scent when he wasn’t there. I never told him that his scent really comforted me; he figured it out on his own.
  When I saw that he had left them, I immediately knew why, and I cried. © F*****Pancake / Reddit

• On our second date, I made some banana bread. He started unloading the dishwasher. He just hopped in. He wasn’t directed, asked, or led. I was so shocked!
  I told him he didn’t have to do that; I was totally unprepared for this. He said, “Let me.” He threw the towel over his shoulder and took care of it. He loaded it, too. I just stood there in awe.
  That was the moment. Even now, I choke up because it was meaningful in a way that I’m sure he doesn’t realize. After having partners with no instinct to help or appreciation for what I offer, he was different. I’ll tell him someday. © getmyhopeon / Reddit
• My partner made a playlist called “How We Got Here.” We communicated and connected through music. In chronological order, it held specific songs and lyrics that told our love story so far.
  As someone who has often felt misunderstood and has communicated through music, I have never felt more understood. He treats me so well every single day. © Stock_Cartoonist1730 / Reddit
• When my boyfriend invited me to meet his mother, he told me she could be “a bit sharp,” but I figured he meant she was old-school. Well, nope.
  The moment I walked in, she looked at my outfit and said, “Did you pick that up from thrifted clothes?” Not even quietly. The part that hurt was that... yeah, most of my clothes are thrifted because I’m in university and barely keeping up with bills.
  But the woman didn’t stop there. She kept making comments like that all through dinner, little digs about “girls these days” and how I “looked tired” or how “my boyfriend’s ex was more stylish,” while his family just pretended not to hear. I left early because I honestly felt embarrassed.
  The next day she called me. My boyfriend said she wanted to apologize, so I answered. Instead, she told me she “tests” the women he dates because he gets attached too easily, and she wanted to see if I’d “snap” when she pushed.
  Then she said, “At least you didn’t talk back. That’s better than the last two.” I hung up and just sat there thinking. Looking back, we now have a more cordial relationship, but at the time, it really threw me off.

• After I shattered my elbow, dislocated my wrist, and ultimately needed three surgeries, my husband learned how to braid hair and do blowouts. He knew how important it was for me to have some semblance of normalcy when I was struggling to do anything for myself. © Elle_Vetica / Reddit
• I have a genetic condition that will probably manifest in my 50s. Its effects vary from person to person, but they’re probably not going to be great. I was upfront with my new significant other (SO) about having it and what it could mean.
  I have no problem if people can’t handle something like that; it’s better to be frank in case they want to leave. Although I’m matter-of-fact about it, I told my SO a few days later in passing that I was talking to a relative with the same condition who is losing the strength and feeling in her hands and arms. She’s otherwise very healthy, and it upset me to hear that she’s deteriorating.
  He said that if it ever happened to me, he would take care of me. There was no hesitation, and he was 100% sincere. We had been dating for about two weeks at that point. I am going to marry that man! © 80s-Dayglow-Kitten / Reddit
• When I told my husband I wanted to go back to school, he laughed and said, “Sure, if you want to play student again.” Money was tight, so when I got accepted with a full scholarship, he brushed it off as “probably temporary.”
  Every time I studied late, he’d comment on how pointless it was and how I was “too old to start over.” I felt embarrassed even trying. I told myself at least I wasn’t wasting our savings, since the scholarship covered everything.
  On graduation day, I assumed he wouldn’t show up. Instead, I walked into the room and saw him in the front row, holding a sign with my name on it.
  A few weeks later, while sorting through paperwork, I found old payment receipts addressed to the school. That’s when he admitted the truth: the “scholarship” had been quietly funded by him the entire time. He said he’d been scared I’d realize I didn’t need him anymore.
  “I handled that fear badly,” he said. “But I never stopped believing you’d make it.”

Sometimes a small gesture can say more than a thousand promises. If this collection stayed with you, there is another set of real-life moments worth discovering, shared by people who learned what love really looks like. And if you have a story of your own, this might be the perfect place to tell it.