Chixe

When she actually spoke english.

The drama queen inside me wants to say "when they're gone."

The geek inside me wants to say "when he fends off hundreds of Mr. Smiths."

But, really, I wouldn't know. I'm guessing it'd be indescribable. Either that or you're just genuinely happy to be around them -- that could possibly be confused with friendship, though.

I think it has something to do with realizing that the feeling you have for them does not depend on the feelings they have for you. Put another way, it's not something specific they do that you like/want, it's who they are.

I hate to say it because it sounds so cliché and vague, but you just know. Your love is different than ever before -- deeper and, as Ozone mentioned, not dependent on his feelings for you -- and being with him is better than you could have imagined. Or, at least, that how I experience it.

It's funny, but I met my fiancée online and knew she was The One just reading her profile. I know it sounds ridiculous, but seriously - I read one line and had this immediate physical reaction, blushing and shaking and finding it difficult to breathe (very unlike me). It was this utterly strange moment of instant recognition, like "Aha! Well, there she is. I guess I should let her know that her search for love is over. Huzzah!"

When he chose the correct pill and donned the sweet black garb to save us from the machines...

;)

Also, when you find someone totally out of the blue and instantly can't stop talking to them. You can't get them out of your mind. You find yourself wanting to say "I miss you" before you even meet and "I love you" before you even date.

That's where I am right now. :)

That's pretty hard to answer considering all the people I know who "just knew", people who have said "they just know this is the one this is different" and who in the end are not together.

I think if there were one real answer to that question there would be a lot fewer mistakes being made.

Some of it comes from knowing right off the bat who "is not the one".

I try to think of when I "knew" my boyfriend was the one, and I can't pinpoint a moment. I can think of things that happened that affirmed my belief, but there was no revelatory "Aha!"

Maybe he's not the one. Or maybe for some there's no special light that goes off, and some couples just grow together and don't even notice.

after 2-3 months

When we started talking in between paintball skirmishes!

When I looked in the mirror =D

I realized she wasn't the one when she said: I'm leaving you. Not so sure now about the 'right ones'.

As for people being special, not true. Everyone's the same with minor variations. Our real 'destinies' may be living across the world somewhere and we'd never realize it.

/*end existentialist morbidity*/

Nils, sometimes we're wrong (or misled by another), but I think the point is to learn from those experiences and, in time, move on.

I moved to the other side of the world for someone who ultimately turned his back on me quite vehemently. That made me feel terrible and doubt a lot of things. But, oddly enough, I've met someone much better here than what I originally came for, something I didn't expect at all. So maybe the key is to follow your heart (and your mind) as best you can with each event, and probably, eventually, you'll end up where you're "meant" to be. The paths there might just be a little funny. :)

I bashed my head on the edge of a desk at work when I was picking up papers I had dropped. Feeling something trickling down my forehead, I stumbled to break room, where he happened to be sitting. He wiped the blood off of my face, arranged a trip to the clinic, and it was love at first injury. After almost 20 years, we're still together.

Someone else's favorite quote:

All signs of superhuman nature appear in man as illness or insanity

-- Nietzsche

If you both believe it
... and are willing to put in the effort
... and are willing to make compromises/collaborate/sacrafices
... and are willing to forgive
... and are after common goals
... and can tolerate each other (take time apart)

then it will work.

<a href="
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4823861">
Why Marriages Fail

See also: premarital counseling, prenup, lots of discussions

1001 Questions to Ask Before Getting Married

She was the last one left on the cart. :)