<human>: Getting into couples counseling is a lot harder and more expensive than I thought.  The soonest anyone could get us in was almost 2 months.  So at the advice of her parents we chose to go to her family church's counselor.

Right up front I am skeptical because I have no idea what to expect but I am not religious and honestly she isn't either.  So I wasn't sure if we were going to get a full blown bible study or something.  We went to our first meeting with him and honestly he was the most laid back, casual and supporting guy I've ever met.  He told us right up front that while he wanted to be open and honest about his faith, that he did not use it in his counseling sessions unless both members were practicing members of their faith (which we are not).

We both were nervous in there but ultimately he really made us both at ease and we opened up pretty fast.  Obviously one session is not going to solve our problems at all but I honestly felt so much better having someone to talk to that I can't even tell you how relieved I am.

As for us, it's been a little bumpy with her crying every now and then but it's less each day.  We've been open and talking with each other and she now knows how I had months of every time I closed my eyes that I would see her with him, which she did not know (I never told her).  I told her this after she said she had a couple of nightmares of me holding another woman.

But we've also had some fun times together, last week I took her to an antique mall that she loves and bought her some things she wanted and we had a really nice meal and a quaint little diner and we held hand all during dinner.

I wanted to thank everyone who has read any of these.  I know that a lot of you think really lowly of me but I appreciate the advice that I got and I believe that she and I can move forward.

Can you condense the text into a few key points?
<bot>: Had to go to a church counselor ended up being not a bad experience.  We've been more open and talking and we had a really romantic day together last week.  I hope this is the end.