Doula Relationships

This past week, I received a payment check from a former client, along with a really sweet picture of her baby, who is almost 6 weeks at this point. I was really touched and thought it was so sweet of her to send me a photo.
As a doula, I am involved with couples at a very important time in their lives, when they welcome a new member into their family. It is, essentially, a business realtionship but because of the nature of the work I do,
it feels like more than that. You really get to know women and their partners and establish a connection.
So you do pre-natal work, attend the labor and birth and even do some post partum follow-up, but eventually it ends. And I find myself wondering, sometimes, how they are doing, how the breastfeeding is going, and lots of other things. I always tell my clients they can feel free to call me with questions and they do, sometimes but usually not more than once or twice. Then they go on with their lives and I form new relationships with new clients.
I have started a habit of trying to check in with former clients around the 1-year mark, to say hello and see how their life has been this past year. At the end of the day, though, I probably will not maintain strong friendships with these women and that is okay. They needed me at a specific time in their lives and now they have moved on. But it is still nice to consider that I will always be connected to a significant event in their lives. That, years later, when they reflect on the birth of their child, I will be part of that memory in some way.
Have a wonderful shabbos