I love when that happens! I was fortunate and had the opposite situation at work; my co-worker would talk on the phone to her mother like I wanted to learn to talk to my stepmother; was a good role model for me. It did not hurt that my husband would listen to my struggles with my senile stepmother and, afterwards, when I was upset and processing it, would tell me how well he thought I had done, etc. Having the "space" in therapy to learn and understand and practice these things with one's therapist is great. I was able to start dating my husband 30 years ago because of therapy and things I was learning there