Which made me like her—that she didn’t refuse it on client/provider ethical grounds. (Can’t accept gifts).
She seemed very impressed with the “Dolls Help” calendar, so that was a good sign, and I liked her in general too—a relief. Mostly I talked about background intake info, but I did keep saying “yes, but…”.
“Yes, I hold tension in my neck muscles—but I’m stepping over people dying on the sidewalk.” / “Yes I’m hyper vigilant —but there are bullet holes in the windows at my work.” / “Yes, I was sleeping more—but there was nowhere to go during the pandemic so I went to bed.”
“You qualify as having General Anxiety Disorder” she said. (Insurance would cover this if I want to continue beyond the grant money, which I don’t think I do.)
“But who doesn’t?” I said.
“Right,” she said. “Probably everyone in town—in the country —would qualify.”
And we laughed. Nice.
I stopped at a fabric store near her office and the dolls got to choose a reward for coming along—they think therapy is “stupid for dolls”, but they’re always up for an outing. So they didn’t really need a reward, but I did—for Bravery in Asking for Help (BAH).
They chose two fat-quarters for the coming season: the season of joy naps! BAH not-humbug.
