How do or did you decide that a relationship was no longer just casual or dating but was something more serious?
We changed our facebook status from "single" to "in a relationship"
I'm kidding.
Did physical intimacy play an important role in the decision making?
Yes, but not really. Part of the physical intimacy changed with time-- it became a lot more meaningful and connected, if I can throw some abstract concepts at you-- but that alone didn't decide 'serious' versus 'casual.'
How did your feelings change, if they did? Or was the relationship serious from the beginning?
My relationships are never serious from the beginning. Quite frankly, I don't understand how
any relationship can be. In the beginning, you're busy getting to know this person on this whole new level. You don't know enough about them to truly and genuinely decide 'this is the person I want to spend an considerable amount of my life with,' let alone figure you could marry the person.
But then again, I don't believe in love at first sight or till death to us part in two months. My heart and libido are a tag-team of idiots.
What did you see or feel about your partner in that moment or over a period of time which made you say, "yes, this is the person I'd like to have a long term relationship with, maybe even marry"?
I don't know. I can never make heads or tails of my own feelings. For each of my long-term relationships, I literally woke up one morning and thought: damn, I'm in love with this person. How'd that happen?
For my last boyfriend, part of the realization came when we were slow-dancing in his room one night after I came home from a really, really stressful day. It was a combination of the song (which was a song he always played for me), and the fact that I was sharing it with him that kind of cinched it all together; that we were there for each other through thick n' thin. I could trust him to have my back.