May 24th, 2017

BOO!  Scary eh?  Yeah, I do this on a regular basis and scare the crap out of Tim, poor thing.  I never warn him in advance.    No, I'm not trying to terrify anyone, I'm just giving myself a facial.  It's supposed to be good for me.  And it has become a habit.  One of th good ones.

My first facial was a Christmas gift from youngest son.  This is many years ago way back in Connecticut.  I had never been to a spa and frankly never thought I would.  The concept sounded kind of indulgent and perhaps a bit decadent and maybe even a little "spoiled rich girl" to me.  I was raised with a rather Spartan esthetic you see.  In my family, we "made do" and did without and were darned proud of that fact.  No foo-foo girlie stuff for me, no sir!  As kids we wore hand-me-downs and as an adult I found myself accepting the cast off's from other people's closets as well. If the clothes didn't fit exactly, well, they were close enough for the likes of me.  That was the mind-set.  So you can see that going to a spa was just a ridiculous notion that was fine for other people but it was clear that I didn't belong there.

Not sure why that particular message from my past stuck when others did not, but it's grip was pretty tight.  Until child 3 gave me this gift.  I certainly wasn't going to hurt his feelings by turning it down!  So I very nervously entered the salon where I was treated very kindly despite my obvious awkwardness.  I could not get the feeling that I didn't belong there out of my head and I didn't relax for a single moment but I surely did love the results.  My skin had never felt so good. It practically glowed.  It was a miracle, a marvel, I was truly wowed.

Fast forward probably another ten years.   Tim has arranged another surprise vacation planned for us. This time to Santa Fe.  It's a lovely drive from  Colorado.  Destination?  Ten Thousand Waves Spa.  Oh my goodness.  While nervous and a little awkward, still I decided to embrace a new experience fully.  I had massages and salt scrubs and facials galore.  They almost had to pour me back into the car afterward I was so relaxed.  And once again, my skin looked and felt so good afterward that it was undeniable.  Maybe I should rethink my stand on such things.

I tossed the idea around in my head for quite some time until the day that a day spa was opened just around the corner for the place I worked.  They were running a grand opening special rate for people who signed up.  It was a very reasonable cost that came with certain discounts and a free service once every month.  After no small amount of discussion with myself I threw out the idea to Tim.  He said, (as he always does) "If you want to do it, do it!"  He is a terribly Jiminy Cricket.  "You are supposed to talk me out of this"  I argued.  "Why?"  he countered, "Just go do it".  Apparently I secretly wanted to be talked into it because I did.

For almost a year, one Saturday every month I would go to the Day Spa and have a lovely facial that was relaxing and wonderful and came home looking refreshed with near perfect skin and feeling so guilty for spending that money on a spa membership that the experience was negatively impacted.  I cannot step away from my past apparently.   So when the time came,  I did not renew. And I could both see and feel my skin suffering.  Colorado is a beautiful state. But it's dry. Very Very dry.  And regardless of how much water I drank or how well I moisturized, I could see the cumulative affects of stress and dry air and age (let's be honest) showing it's ever so ugly results on my skin.  And I hated it.

I whined to my friend Marsha about it.  I probably whined a lot because for my birthday one year included with some other fun things were some of these:

Little packets of various types of facials that I can do myself at home!  And as they are reasonable in price, most of the time I can even justify the cost.  I was in heaven!  Now whenever I feel like I've either exposed my skin to icky stuff, be it air pollution, salt or chlorinated water, too much sweat, or too much of the wrong kind of food, or maybe I'm just feeling old and tired, I can give myself a little facial, at home and I am rejuvenated.

Tim tucks them into my Christmas stocking, I might pick up a few at the grocery store if I know I'm running low and especially if they are on sale or I have a coupon.  I'm okay with this, I've made my peace.  And I see the difference in my skin and it is a wonderful thing.  I cannot stop getting older.  But I can certainly slow down the way my face feels about it.

I'm still pretty tight with a  buck. That won't ever change. But I've decided that I am at least worth the cost of a home facial that is easy to use, gets great results and bonus!  I never need to buy a Halloween costume again.