A Day At The Spa When Tara and I first started talking about my coming up to Seattle to visit, she told me that no matter what else we did, we were going to a wonderful women's day spa. It didn't take much convincing for me to like that idea a lot. There's just nothing like a day of being pampered and spoiled. Today was that day, and if I were any more relaxed, I wouldn't be able to move. Let me tell you a little about this tiny piece of heaven on earth. As I already mentioned, this is for women only, and all the women are naked. That might sound suggestive, or sexy, or titillating (no pun intended), but it's none of those at all. It's a beautiful, natural way of being able to shed the external trappings that so define the way society looks at us. When you walk in, you leave all your insecurities at the door. You're given 2 towels, a cotton robe and a pink striped cap. Your clothes are shed, along with your inhibitions, your fears, your embarrassment. Once you're in the door, undressed and showered, you walk thru double doors, and the first thing you see are 4 pools, ranging in temperature from 60 degrees to 104, each of them about 10x10�. There's a long, narrow sink full of warm mugwort tea that you pour over your body, letting it run down and warm you, enveloping you in its earthy scent. There is a room with clouds of hot, wet, fragrant steam, and a sauna with a dry heat that takes your breath away. I made my way from pool to pool, soaking, immersing myself in each one, cold, warm, or hot. I tried the steam room, breathed in the wet air, sat in the sauna, feeling that heat to the very core of my being. From there I went back into the COLD pool, gasping at the shock, but thrilled at the way it made me feel alive. This pool has a waterfall, and I stood under it, allowing the water to pummel and pound me with what felt like icy hands. Every woman who went in that pool came out smiling and grinning from ear to ear; it has that effect on you. If you look over the top of the pool you happen to be in, all you see are the pink and white striped caps they give you to wear; it's a pretty funny sight. And, no, they don't let you take fotos, for obvious reasons. Down the hall, there's a large room with couches and chairs~~ a quiet room, if you will. It's a place to sit and rest, let your mind wander. Women sat and talked softly, some sat alone, perhaps dozed, we all reveled in the peace and the calm. Surrounding this room were doors leading to the most interesting places. These rooms had names like the "Sand Room", the "Salt Room", the "Charcoal Room". Each one is heated to 150 degrees, and each has a sign telling you to stay hydrated, to drink lots and lots of water. My favorite was the "Sand Room". You walk in, and it's dark, except for the light coming thru the window in the door, red heat lights on the ceiling. The floor is heated sand, covered by a soft cotton cover, and there's the sound of ocean waves and seagulls. The walls are covered with an undulating mosaic that looks like waves. You lie on the floor, which has small pillows for your head, and let your body and mind relax. This was my favorite place, I spent as much time as I could here. Along with the pools, the hot rooms, the sauna there are many additional treatments from which to choose. I decided to have a body scrub and a massage and oh my, were those the best choices. My name was called and I went into a long room with perhaps a dozen massage tables, all of which held women enjoying the same kind of pampering I was about to receive. The woman who was to do my scrub was Nancy, and she got right down to business. She wore gloves that felt as though they were made of the roughest sandpaper, and worked her way over my entire body. As she finished one part, she would pour warm water over me to rinse off the amazing amount of dead skin (yeah, I know, eeeyyyeeewwww!!) that was sloughing off my body. After that rinse, she would then soap me, and rinse again. This continued until I was thoroughly and completely scoured, scraped and as clean as I could possibly be. I slowly made my way back to the pools, almost floating in that daze you get from such total, physical contact. But it didn't end there, I also decided to have a massage and that would come in about another hour. I soaked for a bit more, then made my way into the quiet room, so sit and rest and be ready when I was called. I was almost asleep when I heard my name, and a young woman named Kimber came and I followed her to the massage room. It was quiet, dimly lit by beautiful hanging star lamps, soft music was playing. She asked if I had any particular idea about what I wanted, any spots that needed attention. I just asked that she pay special attention to my feet, a foot rub for me is the ultimate luxury. She worked my body, deeply, wonderfully, almost painfully, but oh my, did it feel good. My feet she saved for last, and while I reveled in the rubbing, I knew my time was about done. Indeed, no sooner did she start than she was done. She gently touched my foot, thanked me for being there. When I thanked her, she replied, "It was my pleasure", and I knew she meant it. I lay there for a few more minutes, relaxing, just drifting and finally got up and gathered my robe and towel and left the room. After all this amazing attention to my body, I needed to simply sit. I didn't want to talk, or to think. I closed my eyes and felt the day wash over me, this day of pure physical joy. Tara and I finally found each other, both of us almost floating in the pleasure of the day. We slowly made our way back to the lockers, gathered our towels and headed for the showers one last time. As we headed out the door, there wasn't much talk, we were in that state of bliss, that state of complete relaxation. As I went though this day, soaking, steaming, resting, I knew I wanted to write about it. I wanted to share the day, tell you how great it was. Words came to me as I sat in one of the pools, and i couldn't wait to sit down and get to it. Of course the words didn't come as easily as I thought they might because I realized that mostly what I wanted to write about were the women, all these beautiful women I saw. It's so seldom we can gather in a place that's so open, so free, so peaceful and just be ourselves. With all that I've just talked about, all the ways it felt so good to be touched, massaged, pampered, I noticed something far more profound, far better. And that was how I saw the women who were also there. I saw women who were young and old, big and small, of all colors. There was one young woman covered head to toe in tattoos, another with dreadlocks so long she had to wear a special cap. I saw woman with no hair, another with no breasts. And the joy of it all, it simply didn't matter. We were women there for one reason only, to be free, be ourselves, to be the goddesses, the queens, the divas we are. And so it was..... 6/13/08