Thank you RPW, your advice has landed me the most amazing man and given me a new (happy) lease on life!

For context, I grew up with an ardently angry feminist mother who treated me awfully and is a tremendously unhappy person. She never really took the time to get to know me and really tried to force her ideology as the only correct, acceptable one—which, in turn, had made me incredibly unhappy as it doesn’t actually align with my personality. So in turn, I viewed my desire to submit, be taken care of, and be feminine as unacceptable and as a personality flaw…boy was I wrong.

It turns out my best friend of 9 years had feelings for me, and I realized he is everything I could ever want in a man. Thanks to this subreddit, I know that I’m not broken for wanting these things, and my now-boyfriend (he calls me his pre-ancé) has expressed in both words and actions his desire to provide and protect me, and I honestly could not feel more loved.

I defer to him in the relationship and am an excellent first mate, and he regularly expresses how much he adores me and can’t wait to make me his wife. He is kind, intelligent, sweet, an excellent leader & protector, and handsome to boot. I feel so beyond lucky and so I wanted to say thank you to everyone on here who has helped me along my journey.