ToughCooki, I also went through 40 or 50 years of toughing it in the real world before I started therapy. I discovered have an inner child part that sort of got left behind while my main self was trying to grow up so fast. My therapist and I are gradually looking into my inner child part and see how we can love and help her. T is the only one, like yours, who speaks kindly to me and her. He has no greed and doesn't try to lecture us. Yes, men (and women) out there in the world can be so cunning it's hard to trust anyone again. I hope you can stay with this T and see where your journey together takes you.