When you enter a relationship, there's one goal that everyone wants to happen: You two are close friends as well as lovers. You want to be close to that other person, where it's almost as if two people become one. After a certain point in your relationship, that actually happens. You're doing things around each other that you never thought you would do before, you're able to answer for each other and you know what Jimmy John's sandwich they like. That right there is true love. Here's a few things you notice when you're in a long-term relationship:
1. You wear each other's clothes.
While this is typical for a girl to steal her boyfriend's sweaters at any point in the relationship, it becomes a bit more common when you enter it for the long-term. Wearing his shirts to sleep? Check. Wearing his jackets? Check. But there's also the time where the boy -- while he might not want to admit it -- has tried to try on one of your sweaters to make you laugh. A few of them are probably a little stretched out still!
2. You don't worry about your morning breath anymore.
At the beginning of your relationship, you were most likely worried about your appearance in the morning! Rushing out of bed to fix your bed hair, brush your teeth to rid of your morning breath, etc... it's a phase we've all had! You want to appear fresh and radiant for your S.O. right when they wake up. But now, after a year, two years, however long, it all doesn't really matter anymore. You've gotten used to each other's morning breath and tease each other about your snoring habits or bed hair.
3. You don't really worry about your appearance anymore.
There comes a point in your relationship when you stop trying to keep such a clean and tidy appearance. You stop wearing makeup when you're just going to visit their apartment; you prefer sweatpants over a dress when you see them. Hair in a messy bun? Check. When you reach this level, that's when you know you're fully comfortable and relaxed around them!
4. Binge-eating and Netflix are a perfectly acceptable date / day.
To be honest, there's a point where you both embrace your shared laziness and just stay at home for date night. Going out and spending money? You're both broke students, so instead of going to a fancy restaurant, order that $5.99 pizza from Dominos or takeout to eat while you binge-watch that one Netflix show together. While going out is fun and great, so is staying home - you're right at home and so falling asleep on each other is perfectly acceptable.
5. Your family = their family, and vice versa.
You've been around each other's families so much that they've kind of blended into one -- that's always a really great thing. You're able to go out shopping with your S.O.'s mom or come over for dinner multiple times a week. You're both considered to be a member of each other's family, and they accept you like one of their own!
6. You narrate your pet's lives.
This sounds like such an odd thing, but it comes with the advantage of having a pet! Perhaps your goofy pet is always getting into crazy situations and so one of you come up with a "voice" for them and it just kind of stuck — or maybe you both sit and make up stories about what your pets might be doing at home while you're in college, or you reminisce on moments and pictures of your pets together. Either way, you're making high-pitched baby noises when you're talking about them!
7. You put up with each other's weird antics.
We all have weird habits or guilty pleasures that we're a little embarrassed about when we first start dating someone, but there comes a point when one of them accidentally slips out or you just grow comfortable enough to do it around them. You learn to love each other's habits and flaws and sometimes even come up with crazy ideas to top them off!
8. You no longer worry about the way you eat.
Remember when you were self-conscious about coming off as a messy eater so you'd order something light like a salad? Well, now you both don't worry about that anymore! You can down an entire pizza like no tomorrow and have no regrets about letting your S.O. witness the event. You also come up with crazy combinations in your head (and maybe sometimes you actually try them) like waffle burgers and seeing what things taste good with bacon wrapped around it.
9. You've learned how to be comfortable in silence around each other.
You used to be really worried about an awkward silence filling the room, but now you're both comfortable around each other and just coexist. You realize you don't have to constantly talk to them, which rids of the worry of coming up with interesting conversation topics, etc -- it's really great when you're around each other and don't have to struggle to fill the silence with words.
10. You know what they like.
One of the most important things of a relationship is definitely getting to know what they like and what they don't. While you may struggle to remember what toppings they like on their pizza or what movie they would want to watch, there comes a point where you're knowledgeable enough of their tastes where you're able to guess correctly most of the time! It's always a nice feeling when you're able to stop into the store and grab their favorite drink and snack to surprise them with or surprise them with a random order from their favorite restaurant that delivers!
11. You aren't embarrassed about your childhood pictures / stories anymore.
We all have that one (or more) childhood story or baby picture that we're so embarrassed about, but eventually you're able to tell it to your other half and laugh about it rather than be ashamed! Worrying about your mom pulling out her photo albums when you were younger or watching old home movies isn't something to be worried about anymore because you're both able to just laugh it up rather than be an embarrassed mess about it.
12. "I love you" isn't taken lightly.
Those three words are a pretty big step to say. It's not something you should joke about, and so when you finally do say it to each other, the moment's amazing. And every time after that... you can't stop saying it to each other and reminding each other about it!
Happy Valentine's Day!
