I know T very well and would have it no other way. It has been that with all three of my T's. They were all very family oriented as am I, and we shared that kind of info with each other. They all kept many family photos in their offices, and a bit of small talk at the beginning or end of sessions was our routine. It was only perhaps a minute, but over the course of years, you can learn a good deal about a person that way.

Knowing a bit about my T's that way is important to me because it helps me relax and reminds me that their lives are not much different than mine. It keeps them very human and down-to-earth for me. Might be one of the reasons I had no problem trusting them; they were always very real and honest with me which made it easy to reciprocate. I also never put them on a pedestal. I never struggled with wanting to know more, or envying them because I imagined their lives to be perfect, or longing for them to be someone to me they could never be. That familiarity kept their role in my life in perspective so that I could focus entirely on my needs and growth without getting caught up in transference issues because I always saw them and their lives as healthily separate from my own.

When I think about it, it is very much that way with my pdoc and even my family doctors. I'm a chit-chatter I guess and find that kind of interaction pretty normal, friendly, and comfortable with the practitioners I use.