The well known quote is, ‘behind every great man there’s a great woman‘ which I have modified to ‘beside every great man is a great woman’.
I understand why the word behind is used, because it implies support, because much of the great woman’s work is done in the background rather than the foreground, or that much of her work goes unseen. But I strongly believe that this underplays the role of the great woman.
In my case, greatness is still along way off, but if I were to achieve it then it will definitely be in large part due to the role of my wife carine, who is always beside me.
Carine is my rock, she’s incredibly supportive, but more importantly than that she encourages me to follow my passion, she believes in me, which in turn increases my own self belief.
Just recently we visited Florida and it was immediately obvious to me that to move the next level of developing my business we needed to move to Florida. I shared this with Carine and within hours she agreed and we stared planning about how we would do this.
Moving countries is a big step, it involves a lot of hard work and it’s not something to be undertaking lightly, but Carine was very supportive, and not for the first time.
In the 15 years we have lived together we have moved to 5 different countries Holland, Czech Republic, US, Germany and now again to the US.
Each time we move Carine has to say goodbye to her friends and then look to recreate a new home for us in a new country, something which she is fantastic at doing.
With Carine wherever we are feels like home 🙂
Whether or not I will achieve greatness I do not know, but what I do know is that if I don’t, it won’t be because I lacked a great woman beside me.
I love you Carine and thanks for all the support, you’re the greatest.
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