I believe you love who you love, ain't nothing you should ever be ashamed of. I believe this world ain't half as bad as it looks... I believe most people are good.

 

Anyone ever go to the club with friends only to have one of them leave with a stranger... and then your friend texts you all the identifying information they can gather in 20 seconds... I'm talking pictures of license plates, addresses, physical description of the person, vehicle, house... No? Just me? Maybe you need a new friend group... ;)

Anyway, I've had that happen more than once... a "just in case you don't hear from me by 11am tomorrow here's my 'hail mary' text, so hopefully I don't end up on Dateline someday..."

I actually did that myself for the first time just today...

And before you get all antsy and start wondering if Jas and I are having issues- rest assured we are not.

No, no, my 'hail mary' text was of a different sort... you see, I'm a big fan of massages. And I'm also a big fan of not spending a ton of money on massages. So, the other day a Facebook post in the local buy/sell/trade caught my attention... "Blind massage therapist, $40 for 90 minute massage. First time customers only."

Would reading an ad like that give you pause? As a well educated, mother of 2, you might think that it would've given me pause- but it didn't. Well, I mean it sort of did. But, 90 minutes... for $40?!? I needed this in my life.

While quietly ignoring the fact that he does these massages out of his home, and he's blind, and he's a male, and I have never heard of him, nor do we have any mutual friends...

Like any smart, 36 year old suburban gal I sent the fella a message and set up my first massage appointment.

---------------Insert dramatic gasp here------------------

I booked it on Tuesday for today, Thursday.

And I moved on with my life and never thought about it again until this morning. I was on the phone with a girlfriend of mine and I felt the need to let someone, anyone, know what I had signed up for... just in case, ya know? So, when I revealed my afternoon plans to her- she immediately said "wait, what??? Followed by: "What did Jason say about this?!?" I told her she was the only person I had mentioned it to because I felt like someone just needed to know. So what do you think I did next? Called Jas to give him a heads up? Cancelled my appointment because this is crazy? Saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico?

I did what any smart, 36 year old suburban gal would do, and I screenshot all of the information I had on him and sent it to my girlfriend. Clearly, I'm good at taking plays from my random-hookup experienced friends...

I don't really get nervous about a lot of things... but as the day went on, this one weighed on my mind a bit. What did I sign up for? Is this a huge mistake? Is this guy actually going to be amazing and provide a fantastic massage at a terrific price? What's the worst that can happen? Am I going to get chopped up to pieces and thrown into a freezer?

Well, my friends... I lived to tell you about it...

And it was...great! Like, he's really an excellent massage therapist! He's super professional. Super kind. Very attentive. And, he didn't chop me into pieces! Winning!!

He's also super inspiring. And I haven't really stopped thinking about the whole experience since. I like to think of myself a resilient, courageous, strong and independent woman... but I have to tell you, if I developed blindness later in life (like this man did) I'm not sure I could do the about-face, change careers and move forward with with the kind of tenacity he has. But I hope I would.

This situation reminds me of this quote:

Challenges are what makes

life interesting.

Overcoming them is what makes

life meaningful.

Cheers to the challenges that meet you, my friends. You got this. And if you find a random person on Facebook offering a massage for a really good price, it may (or may not) be worth looking into.