My Therapist Cousin, who was always Better than he Needed to Be

You read that right, my therapist was also my cousin. We grew up in Nauvoo, Illinois, on the banks of the Mississippi  River, one mile apart. He was five years older than me, and his mother was my mother's sister.

He was my role model, as we grew up. And he stayed that way for a long time.

I followed him to the U of Missouri, where he graduated in Psychology. And became one of those persons who understood what people were like - or claimed they did.

I barely noticed, that he treated his wife badly - something I should have paid more attention to. Our relationship was terminated abruptly, by him, when I got married. He had to be the only important person in my life.