Here’s Suzie just in from a “spa” treatment at Petco.
She’s twelve-years old and has been blind for over two years. Her muzzle is turning white, she walks tentatively, has picked up weight, has digestive issues and is as sweet as can be.
Most of her days are spent on her bed or begging to be let in and out the sliding door. Occasionally she raises her nose to the sky and sniffs for that pesky squirrel who likes to torment her.
Suzie also trots on the deck hunting the source of that pungent odor she’s been sprayed with a couple times, resulting in a coke and deodorizing shampoo bath.
Fortunately, that hasn’t happened recently.
But we’re in the middle of a dry winter and she’s feeling her age. Her coat looked ratty, her nails scratched and her poor tail really needed a trim. The pretty girl just wasn’t herself these days.
I’m feeling her age, too, and when I finished writing my latest novella today (The Gold Rush Christmas) and sent it off to the editor, I decided she deserved the spa treatment I usually reserve for myself after completing a project.
What girl doesn’t like a little pampering?
Indeed, what hard working girl couldn’t use a massage to loosen the tight muscles and restore blood flow into restricted areas?
That’s why Amy works at the Hotel del Coronado in my recent novel Bridging Two Hearts. A soft-hearted young woman who likes to make people feel better, she uses her massage skills to ease some of the tension her clients carry. The aromatherapy, soft music, cool cucumber water and dimmed lights all serve to relax clients at the spa. For some women, a day at the spa is the only time they have to themselves and they make the most of it.
While doing research at the Hotel del’s spa, I finished my massage with a visit to a swirling jacuzzi pool and then lounged beside a gorgeous blue infinity pool with a view of the wide Coronado beach. I relaxed on a white chaise lounge, sipped a cool drink, and read a book for an hour. My body felt loose, warm, comfortable, and flush. Refreshed.
On that February day, I felt like I could conquer the world if I ever found the will to stand up again.
On this February day, Suzie trotted out of Petco, trotted mind you, with her beautiful trail now plumed and waving. She didn’t haul her girth like a sack of potatoes, but stood straighter and freer once more. With her teeth cleaned, she smiled and turned her sightless eyes to greet the afternoon. Her nails didn’t click and her fur looked glossy and smooth.
THIS was my tired dog.
The spa had rejuvenated her, for at least this afternoon!
And then she returned to her comfortable bed by the fire.
What do you like to do when the winter doldrums settle in and you feel lethargic?
This winter I’ve been fighting the doldrums with a short trip to the sunshine and running several times a week. End result has been feeling better and looking better.