Posted by Dinah on September 7, 2007, at 17:30:41
It was the weirdest thing. My therapist greeted me today by asking me how I was and saying he had tried to return my phone call. I was confident he had me confused with another client again. But he showed me my number on his phone's call log, and I had called. At midnight. I looked at my phone, and sure enough I had called. At the stroke of midnight.
He said that he hadn't responded at first, although he'd been awake, because he knows that sometimes I just like to call to hear his message, and that's ok with him. But then he thought again and realized that I rarely called outside office hours, and never in the middle of the middle of the night. So he got worried and called back.
I didn't answer the phone of course. It was in my purse in another room. And I'd forgotten to turn my ringer back on (again).
My phone once called my husband one time, without my direct help. But my purse had been on my shoulder where it was likely to have been squeezed. And both my husband and my therapist are on picture speed dial. (My therapist smiled when he found out. He's one of my fave four. I don't have fave five.) If the phone gets hit right, it could easily dial him.
But my phone was in its holder in my purse. And my purse was sitting quietly in another room. None of the dogs had access to that room.
I told my therapist I hadn't called him. I knew I hadn't because I'd woken up at 11:30 pulling my hair, literally. I'm not sure if I pulled my own hair in my dream, or if I just clenched my fist while it was in my hair and accidentally yanked it. But I woke up, looked at the clock, and went back to sleep. It had been a really rough night. I had had one hysterical burst of crying, and I was way overstimulated. My therapist thought I might have sleep called him. I didn't think it was overly likely because if I did sleep call him, I think I'd have used the phone by my bed, not my cell phone in the other room in my purse.
It really scared me.
I think I've decided that something must have shifted in my purse and pressed his face. Or maybe my phone knew what a rough night I had, and thought I needed to speak to my therapist. It should have made it a conference call, so I could have been there.
He was really nice about it. He believed me completely when I said I didn't remember calling him. I offered to take him off my speed dial, and he assured me that wasn't necessary. It had only happened once, and he didn't want me to be hasty. He understands that it soothes me to see his face on my phone. And he told me that of course he wasn't angry. That if anyone had earned the right to call him at midnight if I needed him, it was me.
We moved on to talk about the puppy.
At the end of every session, he tells me to call him if I need him. I think I started the tradition by asking, and he started offering it, and now it's a ritual. If he forgets, I've been known to hail him from down the hall, and he'll laugh and add it. Today he told me to call him if I need him, even if it's at midnight. I wonder if he doesn't quite believe my purse called him.
You know, he really is a sweet therapist sometimes.
poster:Dinah
thread:781451
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20070904/msgs/781451.html