No Pain No Gain

Most people go to a spa to relax...I guess that is why I went, to relax and be tortured at the same time if that is possible. Meaning that I went knowing that I had signed my self up for a 65 min deep tissue massage. Perhaps I am one of those people who enjoy pain, I don't know, but what I do know is that I was looking forward to my hour and five minutes of intense pressure, in hopes that it would produce the desired result of less pain in the hours following. What I did not expect is how hard it was to relax at a spa.

I have never been to a spa for anything other than a hair appointment, and then you are in the salon, so it doesn't really count. When I arrived at the spa I was kindly greeted by a few girls sitting behind a huge desk. Then quickly ushered through a etched glass door into a dark hallway. Having no idea where I was heading, I just focused on keeping up, as well as trying to retain all of the information spilling out of the girls mouth leading me.

"you are hear early, so you can relax in out library" She said pointing in the direction of a even darker room lit only by maybe three tea lights. I could kind of make out a book shelf. She went on,"when you come back here you can fill out this form before your technician (this is not a relaxing term) comes to get you." She continued on so I followed. "Here is the Ladies lounge," she said as she ushered me through another doorway. I entered a lit room with a counter and hair dryers, products and little stools to sit upon in front of giant mirrors. (oh goody, giant mirrors are always comforting, in bright light) Why not have the dim light in this room and the lights on in the room where you are supposed to fill out forms and read books. I was about to ask her this when I realized she was still dispensing information. So I just listened and kept walking. "Here are the toilets, the changing room and here is your locker. You have locker L here in the corner. Okay?"

I wasn't she why my opinion on which locker was important, but I said, "oh sure."

"Alright then you can change into this robe and these slippers, and then relax in the library. Any questions?" I was still trying to look like I had done this a million times before, "nope." She disappeared around the corner. Seemed simple enough. I used the bathroom, and then realized that she had not given me a key or a code for my locker. I sat there and worried for a min. But then when I got back to my little locker I found a key in the lock. How handy.

So I grabbed my robe and slippers and headed into a changing stall (side note do not make the mistake of typing a s in place of a c in the word 'changing')
It was not until I got in there that I realized I did have a question..."how much am I supposed to be wearing under this here robe?" But it was too late, the rambling girl was gone. So after debating with myself I decided that I was not supposed to wear anything under the robe, because the end of my session would be ending in a shower, and no one wears clothes in the shower.

Don't get me wrong I have had massages plenty of times before, but they are all different, some in full clothes, some in under wear and others in your birthday suit.

I was okay with my decision to ditch the clothes, that was until I got back to the library. And went to sit down and realized that this robe had no intention of being on my side. It wanted to play peek-a-boo (now I understand the need for the low lighting) with the old man sitting across from me trying to see his form enough to fill it out. He gave up. I tried to fill mine out and not lose the robe in the process. All of which was anything but relaxing. Finally just as I was starting to flip through a magazine, my technician came to take me away.

She lead me down another hallway and into yet another dimly lit room. She said, "I'll leave you here and be right back when you are ready." And left. Luckily I have done this part before so I hung the robe up and slipped onto the table, under the sheets. "okay time to relax, finally..." But then, there was the constant dripping of water noise...along with the stuffy nose that I had, from the smell of the candles or something...which left me to breath through my mouth, which seemed really loud in that room.

But even with all of that the massage was wonderful, painful but amazing... and it turns out I made the right choice in wearing only the robe. And I was glad that I had taken the time to shave :) And the steam shower was absolutely relaxing.

All in all it was stressful at first and but by the end I felt like...well like me but a nice relaxed version of me. Until I had to drive my stick back over hyw17 :)