A husband and wife have gone viral for one sweet and thoughtful gesture after a difficult day.
Shannon DiRocco, 32, and her husband Kevin, 30, live in Virginia, and have been married for close to a year.
Now their relationship has brought joy to thousands of strangers, after DiRocco shared the sweet reaction her husband had to her admitting she was having a tough day.
"It's been awesome that this sweet little moment I happened to share on Threads has reminded people how simple nurturing a healthy relationship can be," DiRocco told Newsweek.
"I'm happy it's resonated with so many women in ways that have made them feel hopeful and deserving of loving, thoughtful partners. And truthfully, I hope it inspires more men, because the bar for husbands should not be in hell!"
In a post to her Threads account @shannonbdirocco on March 5, she explained that she called her husband during a "long, stressful day at work" and told him she'd have to stay late, to pick her up at 7 p.m. from the train station, and to eat dinner without her if he got hungry.
But as she arrived at the train station that evening, he had come prepared, with snacks -- including waffle fries -- the heating on, and one of her favorite songs playing in the car.
"He prepped dinner at home but waited to cook so we could eat together," she wrote. "As soon as we got home, he sent me to put on sweatpants and sat me right down to relax on the couch."
Kevin had walked the dog, emptied the dishwasher, and got straight to finishing dinner, and DiRocco described the situation as a "literal 'pick-me-up'" which "flipped my mood."
She added: "Our wedding song is 'Love is a Verb' and it's a message we come back to a lot in our relationship. We're certainly not perfect -- we get lazy sometimes; we frustrate each other -- but when we are really intentional about living by the theme of that song, our partnership is at its absolute best."
"Anyway, little things mean a lot. Being heard and understood is a gift I will never take for granted. Love rocks."
The thoughtful approach and glimpse into the DiRocco's relationship had a massive response on Threads, with her three separate posts racking up between 16,000 and 21,000 likes each, with one commenter writing: "Be a Waffle Fries Husband."
"THIS is what we mean when we say 'if he wanted to, he would.' Congrats," another said, while one praised: "This is true partnership. A friend and loving partner. What a breath of fresh air."
And as one user summed it up: "This is the secret to a successful marriage! Be the 75 when our partner is at 25."
DiRocco told Newsweek her husband was "surprised people felt like what he did was so thoughtful because it was pretty low-effort and easy for him," and wants people to know that "every man is capable of being a waffle fry guy."
She added that they both believe that "the way this blew up is a reminder that the small things really are the big things."
"We're also both thrilled that more people are learning about 'Love is a Verb' because it's severely underrated advice and a fantastic song. We are huge John Mayer fans and this is one of our favs!" she said.
According to Dr. John Gottman, one of the world's leading marriage researchers, the strongest predictor of marital success is deep friendship between spouses: mutual respect and affection, emotional intimacy, and managing conflict with kindness instead of contempt.
His decades-long research of married couples showed that those who maintain a strong friendship are more likely to stay together and report high satisfaction within the marriage, according to a report from Psychology Today.