I ALWAYS LIKED
BEING SERVED.
I just didn't know how many men liked serving me.
Young. Ambitious. Demanding. I spent years trying to make that part of me smaller. I don't ask for princess treatment. I notice the man who wants to give it.
The conferences were always funny.
I'd walk into an IT conference and some adorable nerd would appear. Coffee? Already coming. A drink? He's working up the courage. My number? Now he's forgotten English. I loved watching a brilliant man become nervous around me.
That little nervous smile was my weakness long before I had a name for any of this.
HE BECAME MY FIRST HERO.
Successful. Intelligent. Kind. Generous. He wasn't weak. He simply discovered that making my life easier made him happy.
Done.
Handled.
Already noticed.
Bought.
Princess upgrade.
Constant.
After almost a year, he asked for something.
One private week.
He went ahead, prepared everything, collected me at the airport and handled the details. When I arrived: flowers, my favorite wine, a new iPhone and $5,000 waiting. Everything said the same thing without him needing to say it: “I like seeing you happy.”
But here's the part people don't expect.
I started pushing him too.
Revenue goals. Deadlines. Things he'd been avoiding. If he was going to invest in my life, I wanted his life growing too.
I PUSHED HIM BECAUSE I WANTED HIM DOING EVEN BETTER.
NOT EXTRACTION. EXPANSION.
Surely he couldn't be the only one.
Maybe there were other men building companies, writing code, investing and inventing things who quietly wanted exactly this. Maybe my nerds had been telling me all along. I just hadn't learned their language yet.
HE WAS MY FIRST HERO.
MAYBE HE WON'T BE MY LAST.