My Tax-Payer Funded Friendship

We have a new special someone in our lives and the time we spend together is funded by the tax payers of New York. Her name is Kelly and she is Jamie’s speech therapist.

Jamie struggles with a speech delay. According to experts he should have a vocabulary of around 500 words and be speaking in two word sentences. Instead, he uses between 10 and 20 words on a regular basis and those are simple, one syllable words, with only basic sounds. When he turned 2 his pediatrician referred him to the Early Intervention program, which is a state funded service that provides assistance to children with behavioral, learning, and speech problems. Jamie was assessed and accepted into the program and then assigned a personal speech pathologist, named Kelly. She comes to our home twice a week for one hour per session to work with Jamie.

My little man of few words (August 2010)

Let me switch focus for a minute to make a confession: I’m a bit of a relationship junkie. Social interaction gives me a high. Whenever I’m starting a friendship with someone new, I’m like a twelve year old kid with an innocent school yard crush. I get jittery when I’m talking to the person on the phone, planning our next meeting. I feel giddy when they’re around. I re-play our conversations over and over again in my head, wondering if I should have said something differently. I second guess everything I do. I become obsessed with impressing them, but doing it in a way that isn’t smothering and repulsive. I try my hardest to look my best and act my brightest. You can think I’m crazy if you want to, but keep in mind that if you know me personally, I probably felt (or maybe even still do feel) this way about you. I hope you find it flattering. You should consider it a compliment that I realize you are such a special person that I would go to great lengths to keep you in my life.

 My mom always told me that you know someone is good for you if they make you a better person.

Well Kelly is good for my kids and for me! She intrigues me and inspires me. Speech days have become my favorite days of the week. Whenever she is scheduled to visit I work diligently to clean the house. I’ve even started mopping my kitchen floor on a regular basis (and if you know me well, you know this is very uncharacteristic) and I don’t even do that for the friends I’ve had for years. I choose my outfits more carefully in the morning on speech therapy days. Kelly is also a mom of three- an eldest girl followed by two boys, just like mine- and so we have a lot in common. She understands me in a way that few people do. She’s full of great advice on everything- from speech to discipline- and she’s willing to share her knowledge with me openly. She’s wonderful with Josie, Jamie, and Johnny and, as you should know, the way to a mother’s heart is through her kids. She is patient and kind and cheery and whenever I’m with her I want to be more like her. I’ll just say it, I love her!

I know that God puts the right people in our lives at just the right time. I’m pretty sure that He knew I needed Kelly. At this time in my life I am in desperate need of companionship, optimism, and advice and she gives me all those things. My other friends are doing the best they can to fill those roles while James is gone, but they’re all busy moms with young families and little time to spare. Kelly is a busy mom too but she’s paid to spend time with my family. Let’s face it, she’s my captive audience. The sad part though is that I’m not sure we’re even allowed to be friends. Technically we’re nothing more than her clients; recipients of her services that are paid for by tax-payer dollars. We may never be able to get together socially. Our kids may never be able to play together. I’m probably not allowed to send her a facebook friend request. But that’s a part of our relationship that I’m willing to accept. I’ll take as much Kelly as I can get and be content with absorbing her expertise whenever I can.

In conclusion, I would like to thank the New York tax-payers for funding my exceptional new friendship!

So now, I have a question for my readers: Should I give Kelly a link to my blog so that she can read this post? Or is that too equivalent to the note passed in class with crayon scribbles that reads, “Will you be my friend? Circle YES or NO.”???