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What's weird is that I ran into my therapist on the street today. It isn't weird that I saw her. This is New York, afterall. You run into people you know here all of the time. But it's weird when you run into your therapist, especially when it's in your neighborhood, right around the corner from your apartment to be exact, and she's with her husband and her two kids, which you didn't know until now that she had.

Therapists, by practice, are careful about how much they disclose to their patients. Which is understandable. They're not your friends. You pay them to talk to you. But what's weird is that I now know these things about my headcleaner that I probably wouldn't have known otherwise. I knew that she was married because she wears a wedding band. But now I know what her husband looks like. And I know that she has two little daughters. I know that she comes to my neighborhood. Maybe she even lives in my neighborhood even though her practice is in Manhattan. I don't know. I never asked.

So, I saw her as I was walking down the street to my apartment this morning. She's a cool woman. Probably no more than five years older than I am. I don't know, I've never asked her. For a moment I wondered what I should call her. Do I call her Doctor? Or should I say hello using her first name. I realized that I never call her anything to her face. I decided not to do either. "Hi!" I said. She said "Hi!" back. "You're in my neighborhood!" I said. She said, "I am!" I told her my place was right around the corner and pointed to it. "Oh!" she said. "These are my kids! And my husband!" And she vaguely motioned toward two girls in carriages and the man crouching in front of them. Then my therapist bent down to zip up one of her daughter's jackets and I knew it was time to walk away. "Well, nice to see you!" I said even though I see her every week. "Same to you!" she said.

Which one of us will say something about our run-in at our next session? Me, probably. I'll say "that was funny running into you the other day." And she'll agree. And I'll think about whether or not I should ask her if she lives in Brooklyn or whether she hangs out in Park Slope a lot. I'll think about saying, "I didn't know you had kids."

I wonder if that happens to her often -- running into her patients. It must be weird. Is it weirder for the person who pays to be heard or for the person who listens because she's paid to?