Dear Therapist: My Boyfriend Wants Me to Destroy My Precious Scrapbook From My First Marriage

Editor’s Note: Every Monday, Lori Gottlieb answers questions from readers about their problems, big and small. Have a question? Email her at dear.therapist@theatlantic.com.

Dear Therapist,

I was married to my ex-husband for three years, and we were together for a total of six. We have one beautiful daughter, and things ended because between work and child-rearing, we didn’t make time for ourselves and we drifted apart.

We are both romantics, so we refused to accept the conventional narrative that breakups have to end with hating your ex and trying to forget that the other person ever existed. We rejected the “Picture to Burn” sort of narrative.

We made a scrapbook for each of us when we broke up. They were filled with relationship moments and highlights from our love story. The idea was that one