My regular weekly sessions are always on Wednesdays at 5:00. I meet my therapist at a different location from her office. I am the only one she sees at this location. Well, until today.

I came at my normal time, but noticed the door shut and could hear voices. I thought that was odd. I asked the receptionist if my therapist was there. She said she was finishing up with another appointment. I was like, "What appointment? I am the only one she sees at this location (her church)."

This threw me off big time. I waited and waited and waited. I told myself that if she did not come out by 5:15, I would leave. I would send her a text to let her know that I did show up for my appointment but left when she never came out to get me.

Just about the time I was heading for the door, she came out with another couple and a dog! That was different for sure. They were all talking and laughing a bit. This was really, really different for me since I never see her with other clients.

She knew that I was majorly triggered and told me not to leave. She said to go on in her office and she was coming. It took her a little bit longer to get back. She knew I was not handling that well. She asked me how I was feeling. I told her that I wanted to leave. I did not feel that I could accomplish much of anything in the state of mind I was in. By now, we were 20 minutes late.

She kept wanting me to talk and tell her how I was feeling. She said if I wanted to go, she would understand, but she did not want me to leave without talking about what had happened. I sat there like a mute. No words came out for what seemed like forever. She finally told me that I had to communicate with her in some way. If I needed to write, I could.

I wrote out all of my feelings. Much of it was how silly I felt to even be triggered by something like that. I mean, she has gone over many times with my appointments. But then again, she doesn't see anyone after me, so it doesn't really affect another client.

I finally told her that I just couldn't do it. I had lost everything that I had wanted to talk about in our session today. She apologized for what happened and took full responsibility for it. She offered to let me stay and not charge me for a session. She said something like we would just 'talk' about what happened.

My response was, "This is your job. You get paid to listen to me. I don't think I can accept that we are just going to talk without me paying you for your time." We sat there in silence again and I reluctantly said I would stay.

We ended up 'talking' for an hour. I kept telling her that I knew she needed to go, but she would say things like, "No, we still have 30 minutes" , or 20 minutes, or whatever time we had until my normal appointment would end.

I am really in awe that she did that for me today. She knew what I "needed" and actually gave it to me 'free'. She didn't have to talk with me for that hour, but she knows me well, and she knew that I would go home and have a break down.

So many times I think I take my therapist for granted. I do appreciate her and she means a lot to me. But today she went that extra mile. This makes me feel really good about sticking with therapy. Maybe I can do this afterall.

I know that some of you have told stories of this happening to you. Seeing clients come in and out of your therapist's office. Or having your therapist be late for your appointment. I can really see now what that feels like and how triggering that can be. It is not a good feeling at all. It is very difficult to compose yourself when something like that happens right before a session.