My eyes search the therapist's office, trying to soak in as much new information as I can

in a short time.

You can tell a lot about someone by how they decorate their personal space.

The first thing I look for are his credentials, which I find almost immediately.

Proudly displayed on the front wall is a certificate for Dr. Matthew Harrison, certified therapist.

My shoulders relax a little until his voice interrupts my train of thought.

Tobias, tell me more about the experience you had with your family as a child.

We touched on it briefly last week, but we didn't have the time to delve into it as much as I would have liked.

Let's pick up what we left off.

Tell me about that morning.

What were you all doing?

What were you about to go?

My throat fights in imaginary love, as I try to swallow.

My hopes were really high that I wouldn't have to talk about this.

What could something that happened when I was seven have anything to do with my life now?

Reluctantly, I began.

My family got together for Easter and decided to go camping.

The adults have very much enjoyed hiking and fishing.

They thought it would be fun for us kids to get some outdoors exposure also,

a little time away from Saturday morning cartoons and gameboys.

Say your family got together.

How many of you were there?

...