Prrrrrs of Pleasure

Once, a very long time ago, a friend said to me, “I love it when you purr like that.” I was taken aback. “What do you mean?” He said, “You purr like a cat.” He smiled at my confusion.

About a year ago, Amy said, “You make a funny little noise sometimes.” Like what? “You sound like a cat.” Then Brad chimed in, “I know, you don’t even realize it, but when you’re happy, you purr.” Well, since three people have brought it up out of the blue, it must be true, at least sometimes. Now that I’m aware of it, I do catch myself murmuring little moans of pleasure when I’m feeling especially contented.

So when I go to a spa for a day of massage, facial, and manicure, I have to be particularly careful not to go around humming in my chest, because next thing you know I’ll be rubbing against the furniture and scratching behind my ears. They will think I’m wacky, or maybe lots of women do this and I don’t know it.

I had the full hot stone massage, which was a lovely experience. I got into a bed with sheets and a heavy blanket, none of this skimpy-towel-barely-covering-you. She warms the rocks in hot water, rubs them and me with oil and vigorously slides them all over my body. I like that the best. Sometimes, she would turn them on edge to work a stubborn muscle. She would leave the warmed rock in my palm, like a gift.

Facials please me too. It is more massage than facial. The best part here is when she puts the hot towel on my face before gently wiping off whatever goop she put there. I think she did about twenty different levels of treatment. Once in awhile, she’d leave a layer on and go away for ten minutes, leaving me in the dim room with soft music and sweet smells. It’s a wonder that I didn’t fall asleep. But it really does make a difference in the quality of my skin, since I’m not very diligent in my skin care routine.

OK, last is the manicure, which I confess is the only one I’ve ever had. Not my wedding, not my son’s wedding, not a vacation, nor a retreat. Never! Because my nails suck. That’s it, plain and simple. So I choose the lightest pink I could find. It took her less than 10 minutes to fix the cuticles, shape and polish them. It took me about one minute to ruin the finish by bumping them on the door on the way out and one full day to totally trash them.

Once I was home, I found myself purring a day long.