breaking up in a fishbowl.

"I have this dream... Is it cliche to talk to a therapist about dreams?" 

"Its very common but I'd love to hear it." 

"Okay. Well, I have this dream, its replaced the one where all of my friends, except for Stephanie, are holding me down and scratching me and ripping out my hair. So that's a positive thing." 

"That is a very positive thing." 

"ANYWAY, I walk through this museum. There are artifacts from my life everywhere. Some that I recognize, some that I don't but I still have emotional attachment to them regardless. And I walk through and touch the glass, or stand and admire them for awhile and feel a sense of wholeness. Like everything in this museum was worth my time and nothing in it makes me sad or better yet, makes me want to steal it from the museum and relive it. I just want to look and know that its there and safe. I'm too much of a control freak. I care too much how other people feel about my personal life and I'm trying to control him so he thinks of our relationship fondly and doesn't trash it to whatever girl he gets with next." 

"Are you worried he will? Trash it?" 

"I just want the museum to be for me. And he can come visit it as long as he's respectful." 

"Tell him that. Tell him you want him to respect it." 

"I will. I'm going to. I finally think I know exactly what to say to him without getting lost in his arms."  

"You have a remarkable handle on this. I'm not just saying that. I know you feel like you don't but you do. This is normal and okay. It can't be easy feeling all of this, breaking up in a fishbowl." 

"Its not. Thank you for saying that.I feel like that's all I've wanted. Someone to say I'm not crazy and I'm doing a good job." 

"You're not crazy. You're just trying to fall out of love in a place that's not allowing you to do so. And you are doing a good job. And you have very interesting dreams."