Good job!!! It was very brave to first send the email and second, to go out there when you knew that t would certainly brings up what you wrote... You're helping t to help you with your healing.
And caring in a professionnel way is good.. I'm a nurse and I care for my patient in a professionnel way; I wouldn't go to their house or to their party but they mean a lot for me, I learn from them, think about them when I'm off, cry when they go through some hard stuff or when they die. The only difference with professionnal caring is that I'm almost never overwhelmed by what I feel for them and that is what make helping them possible.

take care
faith