In Transit

See the girlettes peeking out of my bike bag? Two came along with me —(a combo of bus & bike)—and one of their calendars too—as part of my Show & Tell for the therapist. Also a restored bear, my amber prayer beads, a shell necklace from Camino, and a book about Borges and his translator. I offered the book to the therapist (because she grew up in Argentina), explaining it only cost 99 cents—and she took it! 

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.