I had my first professional massage today. I feel like a late bloomer; I'm pretty sure all of my friends had their first massage years ago. Oh, well. What can I say? I'm a wimp! The idea of other people seeing me naked - even if it's only a naked back - makes me uncomfortable. But everyone always talks about how relaxing it is to get a massage, so I figured it was high time I went and got one, too. Always one to succomb to peer pressure, that's me.

While the masseuse was working on my back, I thought about painting. Each stroke was like a brush stroke on a canvas. When she applied pressure, I imagined a thick streak of paint, or reaching in with my fingers and blending the thick paint - probably acrylic with some sort of thickening, slow-drying medium added to it. Every time her hands moved, my imaginary paint brush moved across the surface, mimicking her movement. As her hands danced over the same area again and again, I thought about how I would layer the colors, what I would put on top.

All in and all, it was a very relaxing massage. But after I'd left, I realized that the pressure in my lower back that I'd hoped the massage would alleviate was still there. That was a bit of a disappointment. I guess I was hoping for some sort of miracle cure that would make my back feel AMAZING...but it was back to normal within an hour or two. Bummer.