He apologized for overreacting and admitted his response was rooted in his fears of being abandoned. (This is something that is a direct result of his childhood.) He feared that if I gave up my caretaker role and stopped rescuing him or trying to fix him, that that would mean I wouldn't be as emotionally close to him. Not a logical conclusion to be sure but these things are rarely rooted in logic. After some reflection, he decided that me attempting to become emotionally healthy does not automatically equate to him being abandoned. He admitted that this was one of the issues on which he needed to work.
A couple of things moved me about The Boyfriend's handling of this situation: 1)After initially freaking out, he was able to regroup and respond in a healthy and supportive fashion, and 2) He did this without any input from me, without me taking on the role of caretaker or Ms. Fixit, telling him what he should and shouldn't think, proving that it is possible for us to break out of this pattern of relating in which we've become mired.
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When I sat down at my desk and logged onto Blogger, I had initially planned to write about my first therapy session today, but I think I'll save that for next time. I had a little more to say about The Boyfriend and I than I had initially thought and I don't want this post to get too long. Suffice it to say that it was a good experience. I'll provide more details later.
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