With a Little Help From Your Friends

It's May 25th; Memorial day, and my long weekend it just starting.  Well, starting in earnest you could say.  I handed off my albatross this morning.  At 8:00, I passed the on call phone to the next coworker in the rotation.  With that, my week of waiting for Godot is over.  Thankfully, this was my first quiet rotation, only having one true emergency come up that required intervention on my part. Past experiences though had me caught in the middle of a situation that I was powerless to either solve, or avoid being the middle man.  I often go into the Monday of taking over the responsibility of being Grand Central Station for 7 days with an overwhelming sense of dread, waiting for the other shoe to drop.   I don't sleep well, my temper gets shorter, and I end up carrying all that stress in unhealthy ways.  One of which is carrying it in my back and shoulders.  I had started to think it would be a good idea for me to take half-days at work on the Monday following.  This time, as luck would have it, the office is closed and I got my extra time to recover as a freebie.  I also had the opportunity to cross paths with an opportunity I think I would be crazy to turn down.


My friend  Katy Dawdy has her own massage business.  After hearing about some of the problems with pain and lack of range of motion I have on a day to day basis, she urged me to come see her.  Originally, I thought I would have to decline based on my disposable income.  I squeak by most months.  Wait, let me rephrase that.  I'm busted with a capital broke.  I didn't think it was wise to spend money on things that were indulgences, and a massage was on that list of things that I longed for, but couldn't justify.  We have a massage lady at work that I will see on occasions when I feel like I might be heading down migraine way, but at $12 a pop for 15 minutes, I could stomach that a more easily than my expectations of what an hour would run.  Katy, having the heart and deep desire to help people as best she can, took that into consideration.  Today, at 1:15, I will be getting a massage to put the last week, and all the stress from it, behind me as quickly as I can.  The best part is that I won't be eating ramen till payday to compensate for the cost.

About a month ago, I got my first massage from her.  If you've never had a massage, they can put you on an endorphin high like no other drug on earth.  I indulged a bit on the cruise my now-ex husband and I took for our honeymoon.  (There is something magical about watching glaciers slide past the window at 3 knots while you're being pampered.) I am never so close to feeling the percentage of liquid in my body as I am after an hour on the table.  The warmth of the room and the utter relaxation can make a person loopy as well as put a dopey grin on their face and a clumsy stumble in your gait as you trip over your own uncharacteristically elastic legs.  Katy is one such professional who does just that.

I'm not easily bought, so I hope that can help to prove that my endorsement of her compassion and skill will resonate louder.  But, if you need more proof, here's a little comparison of what I may be like come 2:15 today.  Well, without the roaring.  It's a good thing.