I will admit to having expectations about it. I don't think they were self-defined, though. I believe it was in response to him telling me he wanted to do it, then telling me after our one session how much he enjoyed the book and how much he enjoyed the conversation, and then telling me he was going to read it during lunch at work. I expected him to do what he said he would do. Are you saying that's unreasonable?
Anyway, I've had this conversation here before, and the conclusion was that it's impossible to go through life without expectations.
Besides, why is disappointment an issue we need to avoid? Sure, it's not fun, but life is full of it. And I'm hardly some child with a fragile ego. The key is dealing with disappointment in a positive and forward-moving manner. If I drive down the road to McD's to get a frappe but the frappe machine is broken, I'm disappointed. But I either order something different, go to a different McD's, or do without. I'm not going to stand there crying and wait for them to fix the machine. Yet I can't see the solution being going through life not having an expectation that I can get a frappe from McD's. I mean, I love them and the anticipation itself is worth it. There are way too many things I would lose out on if I didn't have an expectation about it that would drive me to do it in the first place.
Did I make a big deal about it? I just said it's too bad. I didn't freak or threaten D or smother him in his sleep with a pillow. I was actually quite happy with my reaction to it. I just posted it here for outside consideration because some of this is very new to me.
