The father's day message thing is a bit strange to me too. I have wished my T happy mother's day and she has wished the same to me (we are both mothers, but not to each other ). Also it is obvious that T has played a maternal role of some kind to me, and also that alone could be the reason to wish her happy mother's day. Like someone said, that is some good material to therapy itself. But maybe your T didn't mean anything negative with the alongside-thing? Could it just have been an invitation to talk about the meanings. I think everything I decide to say or do in therapy, is kind of open to discussion. Sometimes it is annoying and I would just rather act, but I am used to it that everything can be opened up and sometimes misunderstandings happen.