People who grew up with parents that were truly IN love with each other, what is/was it like?

1. It gave me much higher expectations for my own romantic relationships. I think it was mostly that they were always offering to do things for each other, like if it was my dad's night to cook meaning mom would do dishes, he would often be like "Oh, you had a long day, I'll do the dishes too, you go lie down." Or mom would see dad sitting hunched over and just walk up and rub his shoulders. I've seen them fight maybe once. Every other time they just have this aura of genuinely caring for each other. Meanwhile I can't get a text back.
   — murderousbudgie


2. They still have date nights even though they are pushing 60. When they look in each other's eyes you can feel the love feeling the room as if its a thick fog.
   — Avbitten


3. For context my parents have been married for almost 30 years, but it has always been more of a partnership than a romantic relationship. As far as I can remember they have always slept separately and I have never seen either give each other a gift or go on a date or plan anything romantic. They are Taiwanese immigrants and I think it has to do with the culture and grind hard mentality(They are 60 and one works over 80 hours a week and the other works around 70 hours a week). I've never really seen older married couples IN love with each other except for on viral posts. Seems beautiful and I wanted to hear of your experiences.
   — taiwansteez






4. My parents are high school sweethearts. Still madly in love. It's been a blessing being able to grow up seeing a healthy relationship. My dad cracks the worst jokes and my mom always genuinely laughs, no matter how bad of a joke, she finds it funny. Once they're done, one of them usually says "that's why I married you."
   — jma_1010


5. I’m almost 28, parents have been married for 29. You don’t appreciate it, until you start growing up and realise vast majority of others have dysfunctional relationships with their parents and their parents with themselves. And as the days go by you realise how lucky you are for having the support system there and don’t have to call random strangers your ‘step (x)’. Seeing some of my friends go through their parents divorce is some real life shit. You start to cherish the love that you’ve had significantly more. If there’s one thing I’ve taken away from their relationship is to be best friends and accept that there will be difficult days but that doesn’t mean you give up or get angry.
   — Omiie91


6. They taught my brother and me *by example* that romance, humor, thoughtfulness, and forgiveness were key qualities in a loving relationship that deepened with each passing year.
   — Back2Bach






7. My husband and I still love each other - he's romantic but I've never been - after 37 years marriage. I don't know what our kids think but their partners have all mentioned to me that they are encouraged that love actually can last a lifetime. Both his and my parents were happy together until death. It was a good example for us I think.
   — implodemode


8. Safe and peaceful. My parents just get along, they’re very affectionate with each other, they support each other in bad times - our home was always a place of peace and affection. It gave me high expectations for my own marriage, and it also took me a while to realize my “privilege” in this respect - ie that most people don’t grow up in this kind of happy and safe and peaceful environment. They’ve been happily married for 53 years now.
   — wepwepwepwe


9. My ex-girlfriends parents were like that. I spent a lot of time at their house and they clearly loved each other more than they did their kids. They took a lot of holidays together without their kids who were 15 and 18 at the time. They were super harsh and cold with their kids but constantly all over each other.
   — amaluna






10. As great as some of these stories are, I'm disappointed there are so few after 6 hours :(
    — ExpandingGirth


11. It’s pretty great. My mom always told me that the best gift parents could give their children is to love one another. Now that I’m older and I see how they are, I realize what a great relationship they have. My boyfriend’s parents were the exact opposite and he is not as loving towards me sometimes bc he honestly doesn’t know better- he wasn’t raised where there was that type of love.
    — mizzzzzzzz


12. *Envy intensifies*
    — Italianapizzapasta






13. Our daughter said we gave her high expectations when it came to dating and going to a friends house is a downer cause the parents are not together and happy.
    — dinosaregaylikeme


14. My mother loves my father and will Tuttle after when they are out and about and you generally never see them apart. My dad acts like he hates it but you can see he truly loves having her around. They bicker and get snarky but they are each others best friend
    — Juliuscesear1990


15. Because I didn't see anything different growing up, it was normal. My parents were very openly affectionate with each other (verbally & physically) and made efforts to appreciate each other. I didn't realize this wasn't the norm until I became an adult.
    — whocanpickone






16. Only saw it one sided, sadly;My dad was truly in love with our mom. She was so cold to him and us kids (6). His actions/words were wonderful! He was such a kind, loving man with her and all of us. He'd pat her on her bum...she'd shrug it off. If he watched wrestling on tv, she'd turn the vacuum on and let it sit in the room with him. I told her off for doing ugly shit and he'd say, "Don't you ever talk to your momma like that!". He treated her like a queen. She is the coldest person I've ever known. Dad died in 86...her cold ass is still thriving and I'm paying for it.
    — Marinapplaud


17. I was the only one of my various friends growing up whose parents had a stable relationship. It wasn't always as perfect as my friends believed ( my parents were a tad overprotective, and because all my friends were sort of allowed to do whatever, I always felt super smothered. It's part of the reason I went to college 8 hrs away so I could have some breathing room.) But overall I had a great childhood and a model to build my own relationships off of. Looking back I'm pretty grateful they didn't allow me to just do whatever, but I mean was it going to kill me to let me eat junk food occasionally or stay up late?
    — purpleplatapi