May 21, 2008. Nuevo Vallerta. Indulgence.

Once upon a time I was having massage. The masseuse was working on my shoulders, when all of a sudden the table tipped toward my head. Now, as my arms were tucked into my side, I could see that very soon I would be on the floor head first. But the therapist caught the table just in the nick of time. Neither of us said a word, but it did make relaxing difficult. Today both Ken and I had a massage. I love massages but it is only recently Ken has agreed to like them. I was thinking today, during my massage, when I began indulging myself, and the answer to myself was that I have no clue. I recall being asked by Alice, my friend down the street and around the corner from Lancaster Drive, what I did for my self? My response was to be shocked. " My self was the least of my problems," said I. She told me her system, which was to demand from her husband one hour each day for herself, to either run, or go to the gym or library. It seemed ridiculous to me, and as she divorced soon after, I guess my response was correct. But sometime between then and now I have learned to indulge myself. I do not recall my Mother ever treating herself or indulging herself in frivolous activities. Maybe it is all a money thing. I probably started to give myself treats when we had disposable cash.

The second Christmas Andrew lived in Japan, Ken, David and I visited for three weeks. Ken arranged for three different Timeshares in three different places of the country, and Andrew bought a used car which we used to get around. All went very well. Andrew by then spoke Japanese and was used to highway signs, so between living in apartments with kitchens, we lived very inexpensively. Until the last night that is. The three of us were to leave the Monday of a holiday, and Andrew had to drive up to his little town the same day, so we decided to stay at a hotel close to the airport. There were only two. The first one we went into was charging a huge amount of money, so we drove across the street to the next one. Their rates were even higher, so back we went and humbly book ourselves two rooms. In addition, I organized a 12 course dinner on the top floor of the hotel overlooking the runways. In the afternoon the men went down to the most wonderful onsun or hot tub facility complete
with wine and cigars. And we all had a massage. It was a most wonderful time to finish our vacation. But the cost of that one nights stay was more than the three other weeks of expenses. It was worth every penny, but we were so pleased we had been frugal for those three weeks so we could indulge ourselves.