16 People Who Know Firsthand What Real Love Is

We know some love stories from movies by heart. Take, for example, Jack and Rose from Titanic, or Sam and Molly from Ghost. But, as it turns out, real life is full of non-fictional stories of strong, time-tested love. Here are a few of these truly warm and touching stories.

• My ex-husband asked to meet up — we hadn’t spoken in 2 years. We went for a walk in the park, talked, and ended up kissing. He spent the night at my place, and we decided to get married again. 5 years later, we have 2 wonderful boys.
  And just the other day, my mother-in-law confessed to me that back then, he came to see me the day before his second wedding. He’d started having doubts, and she told him it was normal to feel that way. She still blames herself for almost ruining his life. © Overheard / Ideer
• My aunt suffered a lot — she had a hard life. Anyway, she was a cleaning lady in a nice Montreal hotel.
  One night, a man who was about 25 asked her out for dinner after her shift. The guy was British, and seemed boring and rich, but my aunt was broke and thought, “Hey, free lunch!” She went out with him.
  After the first date, she thought he was terribly boring and arrogant. The next day, he asked her out again, and she accepted, again, for the free meal. By the end of the second date, she thought he was hilarious. Third day, third date, she thought she was in love.
  He, let’s call him William, went back to England. They exchanged letters for 5 months. He bought her a plane ticket for a 2-week visit. She loved him, but was very wary of men and one day threw hot soup at him during an argument she had been picking.
  William left, she packed her stuff. He came back and read her a letter saying he wasn’t going anywhere. She could push and push and push him away, but he would stay. She came back engaged. She stayed in Canada for another 2 months, moved to England, and they got married there 5 weeks after.
  Today, they are the happiest, kindest, cutest couple I know, married 25 years, with 3 beautiful kids all in Ivy League schools in the States, all very down to earth. And now they’re millionaires. I always wanted to find my William. © Monster11 / Reddit
• My grandparents have been together for 56 years, during 33 of which my grandpa has been disabled because his work bus overturned. He miraculously survived.
  Grandma never left him, she went through it all. Grandpa was only discharged after 7 months, and then at home it all began again: feeding him, doing the laundry, turning him over. She taught him how to eat with a spoon again, how to walk.
  But most importantly — she never lost her spirit. She’s 80 now, absolutely gorgeous, always with a manicure, and she knows how to use a tablet. Now that’s love. © Overheard / Ideer

• My grandparents have been married for many years. Recently, Grandma had a milestone birthday. We gathered all the relatives and booked a table at a fancy restaurant.
  Suddenly, we realized Grandpa had been gone for a while. We started looking for him.
  At that moment, the lights in the restaurant went out, and Grandpa rode in on a horse, declaring his love for Grandma. Then he got off the horse, went down on one knee, and said, “Be my old lady!” — offering her a ring in a little box. We all teared up. © Chamber ** / VK
• When people ask me what love is, I always say — it’s my grandparents. Their love story began exactly 47 years ago. They met at the wedding of a mutual friend.
  That night, Grandma turned Grandpa down 3 times. She didn’t even want to talk to him. Then came another 11 rejections, another 8 the next day, and another 7 on the fourth day. Grandpa courted Grandma as if he were about to discover a new planet, if only she’d agree to go out with him.
  After 29 rejections, Grandma finally gave in. She agreed to go on a date just once. That was all Grandpa needed to win her heart. They started dating.
  Grandpa turned out to be a huge romantic. He knew his girlfriend loved wild roses, so he started tending a garden full of her favorite flowers. That garden is still at their country house, and it’s absolutely breathtaking!
  Grandma always says she was such a fool. She could have missed out on such a wonderful man 29 times, but on the 30th, she gave him a chance. And she’s so glad she did! Now she never misses a chance to brag about her favorite man. © Chamber ** / VK
• I was visiting my grandparents, who had always amazed me and been my example of a strong relationship. At some point, I asked them what their secret was and how they had managed to stay together for so long.
  Grandpa started a long speech about love, mutual respect, understanding, and a sense of responsibility, and ended by kissing Grandma on the cheek. Grandma just shrugged and said, “I don’t know, but 2 Social Security checks are still better than one...” © Chamber 6 / VK

“Valentine’s gift from my wife. She made chicken hearts with pasta for lunch. What is that if not true love?”

• Grandpa spent his whole life, as they say, under Grandma’s thumb. She was a strong-willed woman who kept everything under control, and he was the calm type who never argued.
  One time, after they were both retired, I asked him why he always gave in to her. He just answered calmly, “I don’t need those arguments. My job is to get things done. What color the wallpaper is, what’s for dinner, where we go on vacation — that’s all up to her. All I care about is having a vacation, decent food, and a clean house.”
  And that’s how they lived their whole live together, without fights or drama. © Caramel / VK
• A long time ago, I started chatting with a guy on ICQ. He knew what I looked like, but I only had a photo of him as a 6-year-old, and I didn’t even know his name, just his nickname. Looking at that photo, I thought I wouldn’t mind having kids that adorable.
  One day we ran into each other face-to-face in town, and I recognized him immediately by his sticking-out ears and the panic in his eyes. He ran off that time, but you can’t suppress the “hunter instinct.” I have to say, our kids really turned out wonderful. © Marquisette Brilliant / ADME
• I worked at a small photography studio in the basement. One day a woman came in asking for passport photos. That was just when colored passport photos were introduced.
  She asked, “Do you come to people’s homes?” I said, “Sure, but the photos will be black-and-white.” She replied, “No, that won’t work.”
  The next day, she came with her husband. He had had a stroke and could barely walk. Luckily, they lived just around the corner, so they could rest on every bench along the way. The studio was in the basement, so she practically carried him down.
  When she came back for the photos, I said, “That must be hard. I don’t know if I could manage.” She replied, “The stroke was severe, the doctors didn’t even give any predictions. But now, after almost a year, he got up. Now we’re taking walks slowly.”
  It turned out he was her second husband. Only with him did she understand what it means to be loved. Before his illness, they had only been together 4 years. At the end of her story, she added that if necessary, she would carry him her whole life. And I believed her. © Gulya / Dzen

“My husband gave me a paint-by-numbers picture featuring the entrance and windows of the building where I grew up and where my parents still live.”

• When our child was just a baby, I would get up a few times at night to breastfeed, and my husband would always wake up and offer his back so I could lean against it while sitting on the bed. That’s how we fed our baby — sitting back to back. I never had to wake him up. Love is made up of little acts like these. © nevazhno / Dzen
• My sister and I went to the seaside and met 2 guys. I started a summer fling with one of them. On the third day, he proposed. I laughed and left — the vacation and the fling were over.
  2 weeks later, he came to my city, got down on one knee, and asked me to marry him. I said yes, quit my good job, packed my bags, and moved in with him. 6 months later, we had a gorgeous wedding.
  We’ve been together 5 years, going on 6. Our little boy is 2. A strong, happy marriage without fights and arguments. © Ksenia Mironova / Dzen
• My mom was an incredible beauty at 19. One day she had her photo taken at a studio, and a large print of it was displayed in the window as an advertisement to attract clients. My dad, then single, was walking by, saw the photo, and fell in love.
  He went into the studio, managed to get the address of the girl in the window, came over, they met, got married, had 2 daughters, and lived together peacefully for 33 years until my mom passed away at 53. © Turgenev’s Girl / Dzen

• We met in graduate school. I wasn’t interested in a relationship and wanted to concentrate on my studies. He said we can go out as friends, right? I said, I guess so...
  We found out we had a lot in common and had similar values and goals in life, not to mention the same career! Life has been good, and I was lucky to find my best friend and soulmate. We’ve been married over 15 years, and I couldn’t imagine being with anyone else, in this lifetime or any other. © mtn4444 / Reddit
• This past summer, I was riding an intercity bus, stopping at villages along the way. I was sitting near the exit. An older, lean man came up to the door with a kitten squeaking under his coat. He looked a little embarrassed as the kitten tried to wriggle out.
  We got to his stop, and an older woman was waiting for him. She looked at him, smiled, they even kissed, she was happy about the kitten, and the 2 of them walked hand in hand back to their village. Some people really know how to appreciate what they have. © Unknown author / Pikabu
• I work in a flower shop, and clients often share sweet little stories with us while we’re putting together their bouquets. I’ve already heard hundreds of stories about deep love and wedding mishaps, but there’s one that’s my favorite.
  A man bought a year-long subscription for flowers that we deliver to his home every 2 weeks. He constantly tells us exactly what flowers he wants or shows us photos, and we always make sure to get it right.
  One day he came in and said that on certain dates we should deliver luxurious lilies — strictly on those days. I couldn’t help but ask why, and he said, “My wife loves lilies, and I’m horribly allergic. I’ll be on a business trip those days, so she can enjoy her favorite flowers to the fullest without having to listen to me complain.”
  Some people really can pull it off when they want to! © Ward 6 / VK
• My great-grandfather was a football player from Ireland, in Boston for some reason or another with his team. While he was there, he met my great-grandmother (also from Ireland, and working as a nurse in a nearby city). As their ship was leaving Boston Harbor to return to Ireland, my great-grandfather jumped ship and swam back to shore in order to stay with who would eventually become his wife. © SparkFade / Reddit

And here are romantic stories that prove true love has no boundaries.