The Perfect Man
December 12th, 2025
Photo: Bizzy Webb
Writer: Auburn Marriott
Editor: Emma Minock
When I was a little girl I watched the Barbie movies and dreamed of one day having my very own Prince Charming. Even at a young age, I was able to see the pure, passionate love the characters had in those movies. I had endless hope that when I was a “big girl,” I would have that same love in my life —every little girl dreams that the perfect person will enter their lives and swoop them off their feet. However the older I got, the more I realized this idea was just that, a dream. The thought of a perfect man coming into my life and loving me so purely, to the point where I would never have a doubt he would always be there for me was a fable. Then, I turned fifteen years old and found a man who I fell head over heels for. He became attached at the hip and still are to this day. I found my dream man, and his name is Bo Duke. He is my five year old labrador retriever.
My parents went through an unforgiving divorce when I was at the impressionable young age of thirteen. Through the ups and downs of the divorce, I lost a lot of hope of returning to the happy stable life I once had. I watched my mother, my best friend in the entire world and my rock, fall apart at the seams. From ages thirteen to fifteen, my mother and I experienced a lot of sad times with little to no hope for a happy light at the end of the tunnel. This all changed in June of 2020 when we drove two hours away to see a little baby boy named Bo Duke.
When we arrived to where we were picking him up,I remember seeing a light in my mothers eyes that I had missed for years—it was like a part of her was back. We took Bo back to our little humble home, and in an instant our household of two turned to three. This day will forever be embedded into my long term memory because it was the day that a house of sad reminders turned into a home of laughter and play. I slept with Bo right by my side that night, and it was the first night of many where his barks in his sleep woke me up and he readjusted to be closer to me.
I was completing online high school at this time, so Bo and I spent a lot of time together. We would wake up together, go for walks, play in the pool, sleep, and watch tv together like clockwork. The days I used to dread turned into days I woke up for with excitement because I had my perfect man by my side. He had his flaws of course, he would pull on the leash or would make a mess eating, but every flaw of his made him even more perfect.
I am now a twenty year old senior at U of M, and while I do not live with my mother and Bo all the time, I FaceTime them everyday to see my boy. I watched my mother go through a significant life change at the age of 40, but a spark reignited in her when we brought that chaotic sweet dog home. I have watched my mother blossom into a powerful successful woman that I wish to be half as amazing as, and I truly believe that it all started with picking up Bo Duke.
I have found a perfect man, and while he might be a five year old labrador retriever and not the Prince Charming from the Barbie movies, he is perfect for our little family. He loves purely and truly, and I will never doubt that a day in my life. Sometimes love is hard and it hurts, like it hurt my mother and I for so long, but the love from a chaotic silly labrador is what built my mother and I to the women we are today. Healthy love can be a terrifying thought for some, but it comes easily when it is from the perfect man like Bo Duke.
