As a former college prof, I can say that I always appreciated the compliments from students after a course was over.

I never felt comfortable encouraging close contact or hugging. Nope. I even had students make passes at me, and that was very awkward.

Please continue to talk to your therapist about this issue. Are you sure you aren't hoping for a more intimate relationship down the road--and as someone said, are wanting to hang around just in case?

I honestly think it would be best to thank her and tell her how much you enjoyed her class and move on. Then maybe......just maybe......down the road you can get back in touch.

Years after I had a professor I really admired, I wrote her out of the blue, telling her how much I had enjoyed her class, etc. She wrote back later and told me I had made her century. We became great friends and even visited each other, spending the night, since we lived far away.

All that said, we were both married, female, and had no physical interest in each other ---only great female friends. I really still miss her. She died of cancer a few years ago. We just somehow really felt a kinship with each other that I have not been able to duplicate.

And I did become friends with an older lady student, who was determined that I was going to be a friend. We kept in touch through calls and letters. She was very special to me, and I still really miss her. She died of cancer, too. (Hmmmm.)

The male-female issue I see as the main problem. I don't know about you folks, but I do think friendship in that case is more clouded, unless one member is not attracted to the other at all.