Wednesday 20 April 2011

My Masseur



For a few years now I have made regular visits to a masseur on my doctor’s recommendation. Slow deterioration of fitness, age and aches had got me into this situation so I agreed a little TLC would be appropriate. This could not have been further from the truth of course. It is one thing to have your body soothed into a relaxed state quite another to have those aches and pains identified and kneaded into submission by a skilled practitioner. Parting with a few dollars to satisfy the sadistic pleasure of a torturer was a bitter pill to swallow except that for the rest of the day after that first treatment I felt really well. My body was cleansed of a myriad ills, albeit temporarily, but it did give me hope that my old bones were not going to crumble around me.
My return visits were not regular at first but with the well being achieved it encouraged me to attend on a monthly basis. Soon the manipulation, the music in the background and the two way conversations about everything under the sun soon made the visit quite a pleasure.
I say two way conversations; this is not quite true. While the masseur a woman, half my age spoke of many things, my utterances were few. A response when appropriate, an admonition at her finding a recalcitrant tendon or the idle chit-chat about families, pets and holidays, were interspaced by a dreamy state of semi-consciousness as I melted under her care.
This of course was my undoing. In receiving treatment I was stripped down to my jocks and not a stitch more. Can you imagine my chagrin when on completion of the treatment one day, the massage table lowered and a tap on the shoulder to say you can get up now, I found I had my socks on! Mumbling “I forgot to take my socks off” she replied with a laugh. “No, you were fast asleep so I put them back on for you!”
It is one thing to have a masseur, quite another to have a dresser as well!

13 comments:

  1. I found myself thinking how sweet but I am not sure how that settles for you!..sometimes it takes a little pain to get to a more comfortable place - literally or otherwise..Jae

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  2. Nice story with the interplay of the 3 Words. She knows good customer service. Cheers.

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  3. Now that's what I call good service. Better than 'socking it to you' - but then, if you had been asleep, you couldn't have done anything to deserve it !

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  4. Very sweet story. I used to go for a twice monthly massage; your story reminded me how much I miss it. Nicely done.

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  5. I've never been massaged. I have to try that someday; I think I'll end up sleeping too :P

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  6. What a wild and crazy world. My 3WW piece also references a massage therapist. Oh, the synchrony!

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  7. I, too, nearly wrote about massage...those three words just cried out for it! But I had combined it with "Message in a Bottle" prompt from Poetic Asides.

    SO...your post drew me in from the title...and I lived vicariously through your experience (massage is one of my favorite splurges).

    I was so drawn in that I got to the end and realized I had forgot to note the use of the three words!

    ...I guess, kinda like waking up with socks on...

    Excellent post, O.E.! :)

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  8. Excellent response!

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  9. The day you posted this someone recommended massage therapy to me. I've always been reluctant to go to that level/type of intimacy with a stranger. But you encourage me! I'll see if I can find someone who does dishes, too. :)

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  10. I have never been for a massage but I have been to the chiropractor. He puts electrical leads on your back and turns on a machine and it feels like a bunch of fingers massaging your back, it is wonderful. I asked them if I could just spend the night there.
    I think it was sweet of her to make sure your feet wouldn't get cold. Now if she had just added a warmed blanket!

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