Mixed Blessings

Have you ever had a day when nothing seemed to go right? A day you just knew you should have stayed in bed? But before that day is over, something good happens that makes you realize there is justice and niceness in the world.

I remember this day despite it having been four years ago. Not all the little details like the young woman's name, but the bigger stuff like her help. Today, I probably could manage the climbing and turning required of a massage. Probably. But, even if I couldn't, the deeper message still remains.

A Day of Mixed Blessings, 7/13/09

Today I finally decided to take Ken up on his offer of a beauty spa treatment for my birthday. I know, it only took me 3 1/2 months to do it, but, hey, I was holding out hope that he would forget about it. He kept asking me when I was going to make an appointment, so I did.

This treatment was to consist of the following: being brushed all over to remove dead skin cells, then scrubbed from head to toes with a sugar and mango butter scrub, having that showered off, then off to the mud room to be covered with mud and a Mylar blanket, and finally to a half-hour massage. Sounds great, huh?

Well, thanks to my PD, I was only able to get as far as having the sugar washed off. Katie, my massage therapist, was very understanding of my disability, and did all she could to accommodate me. We decided, after showering the sugar off, that my trying to get onto the mud wrap table would be too difficult, and opted instead for a 60-minute massage. Faced with attempting to climb onto the massage table made me cringe, though, so we called it quits. Katie was good enough to go downstairs to the locker room to retrieve my clothes. Then, faced with the ultimate indignity, she had to dress me.

So it was a day of mixed feelings and blessings. On the one hand, I was disappointed at not being able to partake of the entire treatment, and really aggravated with this damned illness. But, on the other hand, I feel fortunate that there was a young lady who went out of her way to make the little time I spent with her enjoyable, and to make me realize, yet again, that there are angels among us.