10 Little Reasons Why Love Is Still Worth Believing In

1. Because one day, you’re going to wake up in the middle of the night to find yourself wrapped up in another person and their hand found yours while you were both sleeping, and you’re going to realize that yeah, this is right where you need to be in the here and now.

2. And because you’re going to come down with a terrible, terrible cold one day and someone will care enough about you to swing by — even (and especially) if they live out of the way — with soup and a movie and some NyQuil, and they won’t care if you get them sick, too, as long as they can help you feel better.

3. Somewhere out there is someone who will remember something you say as an aside, but they’ll remember this minuscule little detail and surprise you with it when you least expect it.

4. Because you’re going to have a moment when you walk down the street together and see a little old couple helping each other hobble along, and just get the sense that the person you’re with is also thinking, “Yeah, that could be us one day.”

5. Because you should believe in the fact that there’s someone out there who will team up with you to avoid awkward dinner parties and other activities with couple friends, not because you don’t like your hosts as people, but because you’d rather just spend all that time together anyway.

6. For all the memes someone will know you’ll find funny, and so they send them you at random times because knowing that you’re smiling is enough to make them smile — which is enough to make you smile, which is… You get it.

7. Because there’s really no shame in reading those cheesy quotes about love or listening to a really sappy love song and, instead of being completely grossed out, you think to yourself, yeah, that’s actually kinda how it is, and that would be really nice to have in my life.

8. Because you’ve read all of those equally heartbreaking and heartwarming Missed Connections pieces and you know, deep down, that fate is weird, and for all you know, you could honestly look up from your phone at any time and the love of your life could be standing right in front of you.

9. Because the love we offer our friends and our pets and our family members — and the love they give right back to us — might not be romantic, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less important or necessary. And moreover, that love is how we practice to give our best selves to whoever it is that loves us romantically.

10. And because you know that for all the little gestures that someone who loves you might perform, there will be a million more that you would do for them right back — not because you feel obligated, but simply because that’s what love is, and the only way to get to that point is to believe that it’s worth it.