The “Insanitrist”

Date: 11/3/2019

I was on a vacation to my beach house with my family when my mom and sister took me to a really cute dessert place. It was vintage with pinks and light browns as the sunlight streamed in the windows. A man worked there and when he saw me, he ran up and hugged me. I knew he was familiar, but I wasn’t sure how. My mom explained that as a child, my imagination was so insane and persistent that our family doctors insisted I have a few sessions with an “Insanitrist,” to give perspective on whether I was crazy or insane early on (I guess at doctor check-ups, I wouldn’t stop talking about things that weren’t actually real, or I would not let go of fantasy things or dreams). I spent ten days visiting this man, a past Insanitrist who thought my imagination was incredible. His job told him to take my imagination away and discourage me, but he refused as he believed it was a gift. He would interrogate me about my thoughts. write them down, encourage me, and play games with me to explore my fantasies. I vaguely remembered the center as being like a daycare with a playground. The man said I was the most incredible child he ever met and that he was so glad to see me all grown up and healthy. I was kind of surprised about this whole thing, but felt a strong connection to this man. He was old with white hair and wrinkles, but a kind face. He wore an apron for his dessert store job. I just felt so connected to him, but also creeped out by him since I hadn’t seen him in years yet felt this way. He said he stopped working for the care center when they began mistreating patients. One lady (who I saw in a little flashback scene that started in the dream) was framed for murder when a doctor put a gun in her hand and made her shoot someone. The doctor knew everyone would think it was the “crazy “ patient, who was arrested and in-prisoned. After this beach trip, I journaled my entire experience and let Ashley Feiler read it who was curious about the whole experience and asked me to explain it to her on my front porch (or we went out to dinner, or it was in AP Lang... I can’t remember). The man and I decided to check in every once in a while.