Girls Weekend, part Thirteen!! Sunday, November 7

This is the day of our massages.  Just the word massage sounds relaxing, doesn't it??   I looked it up on dictonary.com and the slang definition for massage is:  attentive or indulgent treatment; pampering.  I believe that kind of treatment is exactly what we are looking for!!  So we got up around 8 a.m. and set out for the New Moon Day Spa and Salon in the Crescent Hotel.  Our licensed massage therapists, Chris and Elizabeth called us back to the room at just about 9 o'clock on the nose.  We each received our dose of pampering and indulgent treatment for an hour.  It was quite lovely and incredibly relaxing.  Kathi liked the blue oil from Aveda that Chris used so much that she just HAD to purchase some before we left.  As soon as we were done and were dressed and about to leave, Kathi's cell phone rang and IT WAS RIDLEY!!!!!  She was doing well enough to have earned the privilege to call Kathi, and one of the first things that she told Kathi was that she was feeling better.  This was significant because Kathi had asked her, upon leaving her at the hospital, that whatever else Ridley did and even if she didn't feel like talking to Kathi at all, to please call her and let her know when she was feeling better.  I could hardly stop myself from jumping up and down with joy over this phone call.  As soon as Kathi got off the phone, she broke down and sobbed.  This was the moment we had been waiting for all weekend, the moment of breakthrough, the moment that Ridley realized that she was being helped while in the hospital, as difficult as it was to be there.  In Kathi's words, "it is like the sun has come back out in her world".  Thank you, God, for your mercy and grace.

After our massages, Kathi had further pampering with a pedicure.

I sat in the lobby area and worked on this very journal while Kathi got her pedicure.  Once done, we went downhill (by car this time!!) to down and had soup and salad for lunch at the Cafe Sanctuary out on the deck in the sunshine.  We then strolled the downtown shops looking for gifts and souvenirs.  The shops all close down around 6 p.m., so we went back uphill to Ermilio's for dinner.  There was a bit of a line outside and we had to wait about 30 minutes or so before we were seated.  We ordered sauteed artichoke hearts as an appetizer (yummy!!!), then chicken parmesan and spinach fettucine with a primavera sauce for our main course.  We each had a glass of wine with dinner and ate until we were full.  Once back to the room, with a full tummy and all warm and cozy, I was feeling the need for a "nap" as early as 8:30.  So I laid down for a nap and Kathi decided that it sounded like a good idea, too.  We did a quick toss of the states before we laid down and we are now down to Wyoming and South Carolina.

Our "nap", it turned out, lasted until morning.  Apparently, we were in need of a good, long night's sleep!!