At my therapy appointment this week, one of the first things that my T did was to ask me how I was feeling about having called him over the weekend for help. [So, inside my head, I'm going: Needy, gross, like a giant loser, ummmm . . .] What I say out loud: FINE. I'm feeling fine, thanks for asking. He smiled and talked to me about what I was actually thinking in my head instead of what I said out loud. Said I was NOT bothering him. He said he loves what he does for a living AND he enjoys talking to me in particular. He does not think of talking to me on the phone as "work" or part of his job.

In the course of the conversation, we also discussed the fact that when I started therapy, he made a comment about holding the therapeutic boundaries forever, and how that me feel like he would never consider the two of us equals. Like I would never be normal, never graduate into being just someone he knows and maybe likes. He actually stopped and thought about what I was saying, and said that there was no "maybe" about liking me. That he liked me and cared more for me than some people who are his friends and he hangs out with all the time. He thinks sometimes about how much fun I would be to hang out with and go camping with, but that we just cannot go there in our relationship right now. He also said that although holding the therapeutic boundaries forever was his habit in the past, that he could see us being friends after the ethical time limits have passed. What was necessary right now, however, was that I know that he likes me and cares for me as my T, and that he puts my interests first and we focus on my issues and not his.