I echo what everyone else is saying. I'm 36 and on Friday I was crying in session because my therapist has been so amazing and giving to me over this last really difficult week and I said aloud through my tears "I don't want you ever to leave me." It happened again... I've been seeing her for 14 months and she falls into a long line of people I've wanted to be my mother. I understand this intellectually better than I did in my teens and 20s, but the deep desire will likely never go away. It's what you do with these feelings and yearnings that can change. I used to imagine in my mind what this would be like (pretend that I lived with the person, that she took care of me, etc.) Now, I focus on what can be given during our sessions and in our emails or occasional phone calls. I've become less ashamed of these feelings (most of the time, though certainly not all...) and the therapist makes a big difference in this.

In September when I was having a difficult weekend, my therapist wrote me an email in which she self-disclosed that she had people who stepped in to fill that role in her life (her PhD adviser, some of her friends) at moments in her life, but noting that she, like I, never will get the mother she/I wants. Then she wrote that she was sending me a motherly hug. She gets it... this was so important for me to know, particularly because I respect how strong she is. I can work toward/get to this place.

It's so, so hard, but accepting and being compassionate toward your feelings is important. It's helped me A LOT to know from reading PC that I'm not alone in this, that so many people want a mother too. This helps to "normalize" my feelings.