Love Is All Around Us

When I was in my twenties, I remember asking a lot of people I knew how they knew when they had met THE ONE. My aunt told me about the apple test. She said she already really loved her husband (then not her husband yet), but once he picked up two apples and one wasn't as perfect as the other. Without realising that she had seen him, he took both apples, washed them and then without even hesitating, he passed her the better one of the two. That was the moment she knew he was the best man she could marry.

An ex work colleague said she didn't really remember there being an exact moment but she never considered that her husband wasn't the one. Another friend said she always used to see attractive men even when she was in relationships and think: 'I would like to go out with him next.' But when she met her husband, she never wanted to be with anyone else again and she certainly didn't want him to ever be with anyone else again.

My husband claims he knew I was the one the moment he first saw me, although I'm not a believer in love at first sight. I knew that he was the one quite soon after we met but the day that stands out for me was the day I realised I didn't want to spend one more day without him and the day I could see myself having children with him.

My grandparents had to get married (which we only found out about a year before my grandmother died). From stories my grandmother told us, my great grandmother did not want her to marry my grandfather as she thought they were from a different social class and even threatened to disown my grandmother who was an only child. That didn't stop them from getting married though and having five children.

Whenever my grandfather was about to come home from work, my grandmother would touch up on her perfume. I thought it was one of the sweetest things ever to do. Someone else I know has a bowl of mints next to their bed to kiss their other half good morning with a fresh breath each day.

Some see big gestures as romantic and loving where others see the small things. My husband did the most loving thing recently where he took our kids out to play for three full hours to give me time to sleep. He gave me very clear instructions that I wasn't allowed to leave the bed for five minutes. He left water and something to eat next to the bed and even said that if I chose to watch tv for three hours that would be up to me, but that I had this time to just spend in bed. It was wonderful!

I remember a friend once telling me that she had too much to drink one night when she was still living with her parents. When her boyfriend at the time took her home, she was feeling sick on the porch outside her parent's house. Knowing that she would be in a lot of trouble with her folks, he held out his hands and allowed her to be sick in his hands. It's pretty disgusting but also a very loving thing to do and that was the moment she knew she would marry him.

It seems to me that although grand gestures can go a long way, it's the smallest of gestures that pave the way. You only need a moment to have a look around you and see that love is all around us.