yesterday i had the BEST day EVER {in therapy.}

we are talking breakthrough, gates thrown open, i can see clearly now, the rain is gone, catharsis.

after years on the couch delving through past grievances, future fears, and current anxieties; where my shrink and i always find ourselves circling back to the same source of my angst: my inability to pull off the skinny jean with a pointy flat, yesterday my therapist filled the hollow hole i try so desperately hard to fill with endless nestle’s crunch bars and apple fritters. 

as i shilly-shallied between bemoaning my strong quads, and deploring the other heartaches in my life, mainly the cancellation of nbc’s prime suspect, my psychiatrist looked up from her crossword puzzle with a glimmer in her eye like i haven’t seen since i helped her solved 47 down three years ago: ten letters, starts with a “t,” ends with a “k.” clue: “shrink’s specialty.”

um, hello?

“trainwreck”?

do i need a bullseye?

imagine my surprise and extreme delight when that fancy in my therapist’s eye wasn’t the solve of her sudoku, but was in fact something she had discovered about ME!

was i proving victorious in my 2012 crusade to soften my steely, moat-guarded heart? had my practice in patience finally taken root and shown itself in my actions at the grocery store as i bit my tongue, and helped the lady load her dinner for 40 fixings onto our 15 items or less aisle? 

was it the way i showed restraint and grace, and refrained two saturdays ago from embarrassing a jerk-wad, who texted on his phone during the entire spin class when 3 other more deserving riders wanted his bike…and then he left early. 

or did she just notice an overall, general stiff, upper lip during this year of the dragon? 

no. it was so much better.

i was mid “and then he said….” when my therapist interrupted and asked:

did you get some sort of lift? {hands to her face, motioning upward, as if tight rubber latex was pulled to its maximum tautness.}

never in my life has someone asked me if i’ve had plastic surgery. especially to my face.

it was hands down the nicest thing anyone has EVER said to me.

no. no lift. no botox, nothing filled, just my laser last friday. 

she said “your life may be falling apart around you, but you look great!.”

seriously, bar none, the BEST therapy session i’ve had in the 20 years i’ve been on that couch. i felt like leaving a gratuity.

case closed. patient cured.

mental health happy to you m’loves.