This was my way of knowing.

1) You tuck sembei crackers and CDs in too-small envelopes into my bag before I leave your house.
2) You've let me usurp your place and stool of choice at the table, quietly and unprotestingly.
3) When I get upset or irritated about something, you respond calmly and patiently, giving me a chance to slow myself down and have a mature conversation.
4) A hug from you is like being pulled against my complementary puzzle piece, and I do not want to detach.
5) You like the idea of my having your sweatshirt as much as I do (and I'm not kidding when I say that that is something on my Ideal Boyfriend list).
6) As far as I know, you don't think my crackpot ideas are crackpot.
7) We can pitch tents inside, build forts out of couch cushions, sled down snowy hills on trashbag-encased cardboard, and argue about the merits of capsaicin and bergamot. We are perfect.
8) Indeed. Quite.
9) The time I snored, you thought it was cute.
10) In my eyes, you are so...whole-package, that I refused to believe it the first time around.
11) I can still make you blush.
12) When I get ranty and loud and imitate a battering ram/steamroller combo, and my face gets pink from the excitement, you humor me and never make me feel like I'm being ridiculous or talking about something unimportant.
13) You kiss the top of my head. You stroke my hair.
14) You've decided that you don't mind driving up to Connecticut, on your own, to meet my parents for the first time. I didn't even have to ask.
15) I am not afraid to tell you anything or to show you any part of myself.
16) I never feel that you keep things from me or are, in any way, afraid to be who you are.
17) When I thought I was getting sunburned you tucked your shirt around my arm and huffed at me when I wanted to eat my gelato on a bench.
18) You adopt some of the things I frequently say. You like them. You like me.
19) I poke your butt, jab my fingers in your floating ribs, and you don't like me any less for it.
20) You play the violin. It makes me want to knock you into a closet and lock us in.
21) In all seriousness, your intelligence, talent, and youness provoke decided respect on my end.
22) You own flannel. You are not a hipster. You don't wear it ironically, you wear it because it is fantastic.
23) I know that even though my leaving Pennsylvania for law school is a daunting prospect, you would never consider trying to talk me out of it.
24) I might call you cute sometimes, but you're a guy, and I absolutely adore it. And the balance you strike.
25) Star Wars.
26) Our first conversations revolved almost entirely around philosophy. Not hobbies. Not [surprisingly] food. Philosophy.
27) No one has made me feel safer than you make me feel.
28) Two years ago, you drove to Bryn Mawr from Collegeville some Sunday nights with movies and snacks to keep me company into the night, even though you had to go to work in the morning. Even though you'd only known me a month or two.
29) You really wanted me to meet your family.
30) When we're walking, sometimes you grab my hand, interlace your fingers with mine, and just keep on going. I always want to stop and look at you, because the effortless gesture never fails to make me feel electricity.
31) I catch you looking at me....when I'm drifting in and out of sleep, when I'm reading. You never forget that I'm there.
32) I have never been so sure of anyone in my entire life.