that does sound hard, Echoes. I'm sorry she seemed to really just 'miss' all the way around with the forgetfulness, lack of empathy, and then the defensiveness. I wish she had handled it better for you and i hope you're able to get the kind of closure on the relationship that you need/want/deserve if you indeed have a last session. or if you're not quite ending yet i hope you're able to work it all out with her.

Just about 9 months out from my final session with L (she never used the word 'termination', just 'stopping') myself, I can look back and see where there was probably some unconscious reactions on her part to my initiating our ending when I did. Including the fact that she refused to use the word termination, as if by her using the word "stopping" there was an unspoken, almost hopeful "for now" tacked on??

Apparently endings can be tough on the t's too, go figure, with all the stories we hear about the unfair and sudden ones inflicted on clients, and they don't all handle them as gracefully as they should. Makes me really wonder if they're not trained very well on endings? Probably even tougher when it's something like retirement because they're also having to face their mortality along with that, I'd imagine anyway. Sorry if I'm rambling.