I cannot BELIEVE a T would even have a bird in their office, let alone walk around with one on their shoulder. I think the life-sized guerrilla would creep me out a bit, too. I wouldn't mind a T with a dog, though.

Anyhow, if 8 T's sound like a lot (and it does to me), if you look at my past threads about a recent betrayal and very traumatic ending with xT, I think it may be more understandable. I've had 3 other T's and I've never had to shop before, so this is all bugging me very much.

This T, T#8, seemed understanding and was very willing to wait for my trust. He did not push for any details I wasn't yet willing to share, in fact, was very sensitive to my triggers and would immediately move on if I said I needed to. In our introductory session, he had on rain as a background noise. In our first real session, I asked him to turn it off, and when I came back for our third meeting he had remembered and it wasn't on. So, he may have been willing to talk about the timer. (And for the record, I was late simply because I hadn't quite figured out how long the commute was and I left work a little later than I should have. None of my other T's were that rigid.) Who knows? Maybe he was soft enough that I could have asked for a pass just this one time, but that didn't occur to me.

So I gave him three meetings. If my reasons seem weak, the little things do add up. And I really trust my gut with respect to the connection. It wasn't gonna happen, and that's a requirement for me.

Thanks for your good wishes.