Moving On

Chapter Seven

Anaya told her mother about her engagement, and the two would start preparing for the wedding. Anaya was so happy and excited, she couldn't wait until the wedding day, which was set six months from the day of the engagement, a beautiful, spring wedding, April 30th. Anaya gradually started looking at dresses, venues, and arrangements. She could not hold her happiness in and neither could Justin. He was just as happy with the love of his life, and could not wait to marry her.

About four months before the wedding when Anaya went to work, a patient came in who would not give his name. This was common for Anaya, who tried to make her sessions with her patients as safe and comfortable for them as she could. Many of them wished to remain nameless. This patient- a man in his late 40's-early 50's with white, ragged skin, sandy blonde hair and blue eyes came in to speak of his problems. Anaya sat down in front of him with her notepad.

"Are you feeling okay today?" She had the sense that he was very troubled.

"Better today than yesterday."

"Is there anything specific you want to talk about?" He shook his head.

"I'm not ready to speak about anything yet." Anaya nodded. He sat there without saying anything for 40 minutes.

"I'm sorry but your session is over." He got up and left. This man came in for the next week and still wouldn't open up to Anaya, but she knew he would,as long as he knew he could trust her, he would open up. Finally, the man came in again, but Anaya was expecting the same silence. However, when he sat down, he said he was ready to talk.

"I've done somethings, some things I'm not proud of."

"Well, we've all done some things we're not proud of. Anything in particular?"

"It's a long list. I've hurt people I love, I've hurt strangers. I never owned up to any of my mistakes. I'm a drunk."

"Are you getting help?" He nodded.

"I recently joined a support group for rehab, my mistakes are catching up to me, they're haunting me, I knew I had to fix my mistakes, to fix myself. Part of recovery is to make amends for mistakes made, and the group suggested I speak to someone, get help, because it'll be a long and hard recovery."

"It will be long and hard, it's good you decided to get help. Have you spoken to anyone, the people you've hurt, to make amends?"

"So far, I've apologized to my wife and kids but things got so bad, they left me."

"It's a good start. I think you're on a right path, the path to recovery. Continue making amends, and I'm always here for your therapy sessions." Then the timer went off and his session ended but Anaya was relieved she was able to talk to him. And the next few days went by, Anaya did as much as she could to help him, but he never went into detail about what he did in the past, until one day when he came into her practice. He was silent for the first half hour of the session, Anaya was worried he wouldn't say anything, until he did.

"I'm going tomake amends with my first love tomorrow."

"First love?"

"I met her when I was in college, believe it or not, it was love at first sight. We had a child together, but I missed most of her life. I don't even knowhow she looks, where she is or how she's doing, but I'm going to apologize to her mother tomorrow."

"That's good, I hope they give you a chance." The timer rang. "I'm sorry but the time is up." He nodded, and left, and Anaya also went home after this session, he was always her last patient of the day.

The next day was Anaya's day off, she spent all morning in front of her t.v, and her mother came home in the evening.

"How was your day?"