Have You Ever Been In Love?

[Tenshigure]

Every time my toddler comes running out of her room all smiles and energetic, I can't not love that kid even when I'm in no mood for other people. It's the say love I have with my other kids (though the order they get, the less 'pure' it is and replaced with more angst lol).

[ayumidah]

Once. It didn't end well, and I've discovered I'm happier and better single.

[The Thread Barbi]

In an Elevator?

[ASYLUMHAUSEN]

I was married for a week shy of 12 years…This June I’ll have been divorced for four years.

So, yeah. Yeah I have.

[Kyle Butler]

[Mozenrath]

Something I will say about having been in love a few times is that I've found it is very different each time, or has been for me. I feel like even if I am really tired or down, just hearing from her invigorates me. It wasn't really like that in the past.

[Futureraven: Beelzebruv]

With someone I shouldn'tve fallen in love with.

[Mandarin Dessert Version 0]

I tend to "believe so" because the feelings I have with this person is something that I would most closely associated with being in love with someone.

Known her for a bit over ten years now and we became acquaintances and friends due to My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic over the internet (so far never met her personally since she lives in the US and I live in Germany). While not having much to talk about besides MLP for the first few years, over the last five years we have grown closer so much that I consider her a little sister to me (and she reciprocates by viewing me as an older brother) of sorts. We can talk about all kinds of topics, even be silly sometimes when we don't have anything to talk about and just enjoy each other's company. I even admitted something to her that I would not even tell on here or have told my parents about but she didn't judge me or felt weirded out but accepted it, which made me really happy. I know friendships over the internet are a touchy subject but I feel like she is a person I would trust my life with.

It is, I think, only in the last two years that my feelings changed into more that I would liken to the feeling of "being in love with somebody". I feel such joy whenever I talk with her, I enjoy her company, I feel like she gets me, I feel like I would do anything to make her smile etc. that I could see myself being in an actual relationship with her. I never felt such happiness when being around friends and such, it just..."feels" like a special kind of happiness that is different.

However, there are several things that keep me from being open and admitting my love for her: 1) she is in a relationship and I am not such a jerkface that I would willingly try to sabotage her relationship to make my dreams come true. I know her partner as well and her partner is a nice person so I would definitely feel like the lowest person on earth to make any active move to steer that relationship into failing. 2) I also feel afraid that if we were to become a couple, it would destroy the familial bond we have now, that if it should not work out (which might be very likely considering the distances we live apart) that we could not go back to the way it was.

As it is now, I am just happy to talk with her, see her smile and keep her company via the internet even if it does hurt sometimes to not be able to openly admit my feelings to her.

[Stone Coke Miami Watson 🥃]

Yes…this spring, it’ll be twenty years of being together with my wife (and 17 years of marriage), and to me, she is still the same sweet and beautiful girl that I met in college.

[EvenBaldobombHasAJob]

Maybe? I dunno. Longest relationship I ever had was 6 months.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Yup. Was totally in love with her, she wasn't in love with me. That's how it goes sometimes.