Here’s my answer:

I’m not sure I have an exact moment…the feeling kinda snuck up on me, and was suddenly just there, fully bloomed.

We were friends for a few months before we started dating. I was seeing someone else, and when we broke up, James (FH) showed up at my house with a bottle of wine and a bag of Smartfood. And a shoulder to cry on.

He was the one who took me out for pizza to celebrate the first draft of the first chapter of my thesis.

He was the one who helped me through three batches of not-quite-right fudge to make Christmas presents for my family.

He is the one who fed, cleaned up after and played with my rabbits while I was away for two weeks.

He is the one who tells me I’m beautiful when I’m just lounging around the house in sweats.

He is the one who lugs firewood up from the basement and builds me a fire when I’m cold.

He is the one who refurbished a computer for my parents after seeing how badly theirs was performing.

He is the one who dealt with the alarm company after I burned food in the toaster and set off an ear-piercing alarm where I was house-sitting.

He is the one who holds me when I’m sad and laughs with me when I’m happy. He is the one I want to tell my news. He is the one I want to see first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

I can’t pinpoint the exact moment I knew we would be married. I remember having a discussion about when we wanted to buy a house together. It wasn’t until after he proposed it occurred to me that most people plan the wedding, then think about buying the house. It just seemed so natural that we would be together, as if the marriage were inevitable, so we didn’t even have to discuss it.

I suppose the moment that drove it home more than anything was the first Christmas we spent together. My parents were visiting and while I was helping my mom wrap gifts, she turned to me and said, “Do you think he’s a keeper? Cause I do.”