That's a mindset many people have, sadly and it needs to change. People can love their friends, their family, their teachers, their neighbor, their pastor etc... look at dogs.... they exhume love... it "just is" with them. There is no romantic or sexual component, it's just the feeling of love at it's most pure.... THAT is what I am talking about.

Being "in love" and "loving someone" are vastly different. Did I have romantic thoughts or sexual thoughts at times? Sure... rarely but yes... but that is not love to me. I never claimed to be "in love" with my T.

For me, even when he was angry at me, I still deeply cared about him and wanted the best for him in life. Even when we didn't talk a while, I still deeply cared and wanted the best for him in life. He made me laugh like no one else really could, everything came "Easy" for us.... and he was there for me when no one else was after my dog... it has nothing to do with being a T... remember, we hardly had "Deep" sessions.... it was about him connecting with me, as a fellow human being.... and making me smile, showing me he cared and that everything would be ok. Of all my family and friends etc NO ONE even offered to hug me after my dog died, but that was the first thing he did. I told him, that was the time when I knew I felt love for him, not on a "oh it's just a normal therapy thing" level but on a human level...... he made me feel loved and cared for during that whole hell, not even my own family could do that. I told him all of this in his goodbye letter. I don't want him to ever question my love.... because in it's most simple form.... I love him deeply, forever... because, if nothing else, he was there for me when everyone else walked away and I had lost my best friend.

None of that is romantic or sexual and I would have felt it for ANYONE, T or not, who had treated me with such kindness then. After all that happened, there was so many times he "tested" me, unintentionally, with his anger and boundary changes etc, even with this random short term leave at the end, none of that ever made me feel "less love" or like it was "just therapy".... I still deeply love him and I always will.... in a way similar to how my dog loves me.