The Massage

The Massage.

What’s the point of getting a massage if you don’t totally relax, drift into never never land and forget your worries?  I had to stop my blogging brain this evening and let it all go so I could let my friend / therapist work her magic on my two day migraine.  At the start I was thinking “ I need to blog about this or I will forget” (remember the Swiss Cheese syndrome?) Then I started to reprimand myself, remembering why I was there in the first place. I was avoiding another trip to my neurologist, another increase in my medication, eww!  Not that I don’t like my neurologist, I think she is extremely smart and very likable. However, I really don’t want to increase my medication right now and she has suggested strongly that massage therapy is a highly proven treatment for migraines.

So there I lay, a few words exchanged and I said politely “okay, I’m going to zone out now” My friend understood.  I sunk into the table forgetting the stress of past 3 days; the pain of the migraine dissipated with every skilled move of my therapist hands. 

Half way into the massage, (maybe? I wasn’t keeping track) I felt myself in a dreamlike state, wanting to open my eyes I knew better than to break the momentum. I was waiting for that moment, when ever bit of your body lets go of its angst and worry.  It’s that moment just before you fall asleep: conscious yet not conscious, heavy yet weightless.  You are a blob of solution set free on a child’s bubble wand carried freely by the wind, drifting carelessly somewhere and you just don’t care where you land.

An hour later as I write this, I can close my eyes and go back to that massage table and still be the bubble floating freely.  That folks is a skilled massage therapist.
(nepb)

UnDone

Breast Cancer has claimed the live of another friend, a young friend.  I write this with such a heavy heart.  When I was diagnosed she came to me, she spoke to me in church and offered her support, at the time she had not been diagnosed.  One year later she began walking that same path.  
She asked me many questioned.  I offered suggestions as best I could, there was light at the end of the tunnel.  Our lives went on, we would run into each other infrequently due to our busy schedules. Whenever we did, checking in on each others medical updates was top priority.

Circumstances changed drastically late last summer and the downhill spiral began; along with it my guilt. I kept telling myself I would go see her.  I wanted to her know that as a sister in breast cancer I would be her voice.  I was willing to write it for her.I would give her a voice if needed and address those issues that not everyone is free to discuss.  Not to say that I am the best writer, I would give it my top effort.   This opportunity has now past. and I am filled with such regret.

It sounds so cliche, don’t put off till tomorrow what you can do today, This has never rung so true as this morning. What have you left undone: a good deed left unfinished, a kind word unspoken, a promise unfulfilled?  

I sat this morning in a glorious mountain paradise looking out on a lake while two of my children play, thinking about what I have done and what I have left undone.   I don’t mean self- improvement or a physical household type chore.  I’m referring to the people in your life. Your family, friends, acquaintances and that new term, “frienamies”.

Can you find your cliche and avoid the regret?  I wish this for you.