Which relationship has taught you the most about yourself?

Mrs Bob.

There really isn’t anyone else who comes close.

I suppose the obvious answer would be that she’s taught me about love.

And she has.

She’s taught me about patience.

Definitely that.

Although, to be fair, she’s probably had to teach me more about patience than most people would consider reasonable.

But the biggest thing Mrs Bob has taught me is actually about myself.

She’s allowed me to grow.

And, let’s be honest, she’s allowed me to mature into the person I am today.

I wasn’t a finished product when we met.

Far from it.

I was still figuring out who I was, what I wanted, and probably making far more mistakes than I’d care to admit.

Some of those mistakes were mine.

Some were lessons I simply hadn’t learned yet.

And some were things I didn’t even realise I needed to learn.

Mrs Bob never tried to turn me into somebody else.

She just gave me the space to become more myself.

And I think there’s a huge difference between those two things.

She’s the calm to my fire.

Where I can be passionate, impulsive, stubborn and occasionally a complete pain in the arse, she has this remarkable ability to bring me back down to earth.

Not by changing me.

Not by trying to silence me.

Just by being there.

Sometimes that’s all you need.

Someone who knows when to let you burn brightly…

And when to quietly remind you that perhaps setting fire to everything isn’t the best solution.

Over the years, she’s seen the versions of me that I’m proud of.

And the versions I’m not.

She’s seen the good days.

The bad days.

The days where I’ve been convinced I had everything figured out.

And the days where I quite clearly didn’t have a bloody clue.

And somehow, through all of that, she’s still here.

Still beside me.

Still encouraging me to grow.

Still putting up with me.

Which, frankly, deserves some sort of medal.

I often think we underestimate what it means to really know another person.

Not just knowing their favourite food or what makes them laugh.

But knowing their fears.

Their insecurities.

Their strengths.

Their weaknesses.

Knowing what they’re capable of, even when they don’t know themselves.

Mrs Bob has done that for me.

She’s helped me see parts of myself that I couldn’t see.

She’s encouraged me when I doubted myself.

She’s challenged me when I needed challenging.

And she’s given me the freedom to become the person I was supposed to be.

So, which relationship has taught me the most about myself?

That’s easy.

Mrs Bob.

Because I’m not the same man I was when we first met.

I’m calmer.

I’m more comfortable in my own skin.

I’ve learned that vulnerability isn’t weakness.

I’ve learned that asking for help doesn’t make you less of a man.

And I’ve learned that sometimes the person who helps you become yourself isn’t the person who tells you who to be.

It’s the person who stands beside you while you work it out.

I’m the person I am today because of a lot of people, a lot of experiences, a lot of mistakes and a ridiculous number of lessons.

But Mrs Bob?

She’s been there for the whole bloody journey.

And I wouldn’t want to have travelled it with anyone else.

I Ducking love you

Stay safe,

Bc