Therapeutic Massage Anyone?

Curt booked a session for each of us today. His problem is his neck. He just about killed himself last year while driving the bobcat. He did not put his safety belt on and when the shovel hit a manhole in the truck stop parking lot, he went headfirst into the window. He's never been the same since. When his neck acts up, he walks with his head cocked to the side as if he is admiring a fine piece of art.
My problem is my...personality? When i drive, i notice that my shoulders creep up to my ears as though I think if i don't hold on tight, we may be hit. When i lay in bed, I'm tense as though at any moment I may get sucked right off the very face of the earth. It started 3 years ago when Darren was diagnosed with epilepsy. My brain knows the epilepsy is not a big deal but my body has not caught on yet apparently...It is worrying for my brain i guess. This tension has led to month-long, week-long, and weekend-long headaches...giving birth 6 times doesn't do the spine any favours either.
Now that my "massage" is over my back feels like someone beat it with a 2x4. Do therapeutic massages usually start with the therapist pinching you all over as hard as she can? It hurt so bad that i had to suppress giggles. I was staring down through the face-hole in the bed at the brown carpet and purple bouncy ball. Michael Buble was crooning frank Sinatra-ishly in the background...everything was pointing to the fact that this was supposed to be "relaxing" but the things she was doing to my back would have been better set to the tune of Marilyn Manson. Buble started singing "Home". Ah yes, home, where no one pins me down and digs the pointiest part of their elbow into the tenderest fat of my back and then increases pressure so as to leave a permanent indentation. I kept thinking, "Don't scream out in pain...Don't scream out in pain..." and then it struck me what i was thinking and i just gave myself a horrible case of the giggles which were very hard to keep in as she continued pinching and grinding my muscles. It reminded me of wrestling and fighting as a kid. At least no one sat on anyone's head... and you know what happens after that in a full out kids' wrestling match.
When i emerged from the room after thanking the "therapist", Curt was waiting with the kids to switch me spots. I gathered up the kids and started for the elevator. As we pushed the buttons to get on, Ellie looked at me with her head tilted to the side and said "Mom, your neck looks straighter!" At least I got a compliment out of the ordeal! ouch!! note to self: If you ever book a massage make it a relaxation massage and not a "therapeutic massage".

My Post-Company "Zen"

Well, I guess i've figured out that blogging is really hard when there are 13 kids and 4 adults trying to squeeze every ounce of fun out of 4 incomplete days together. :) My sister, her husband and 7 kids came up for the teachers convention on Wed. The kids went tobogganing a lot. They vowed to stay outside all day yesterday so that they wouldn't have to do math. (It didn't work. haa haa) They played fiddles together, made beaded hair sticks. (practicing the craft for medieval camp this summer) Ate pots of spaghetti, piles of bread, batches of cookies and gallons of milk. Steph taught me how to knit baby slippers in the wee hours of the evening while i complained of it's arthritic effect on my tense fingers. My brother in law suggested that i was a whiner and perhaps i should do some stretches before i attempted something so strenuous and stressful as knitting. (haa haa) This morning after a tough night, i got up to find my rippling muscled brother in law at the lap top. He had a microwaved coffee filling a random "Pirates of the Caribbean" mug, two babies tucked onto his lap, children like popcorn all around him. When he got up to help someone gain some freshness in the pantal area i sat down at his computer and saw what he was reading: "Finding Zen Moments as a Family" Something to that effect anyways. It was someone's blog with lists of peaceful family ideas. *SMILE* I started delegating morning jobs to the kids and got the strong fresh coffee on. I'm feeling a little "zen" now myself. You know what makes me feel that way? The sound of my husband taking the helm of the vacuum cleaner and directing it's massive sucking power to each nook and cranny of the basement. The sound of children cleaning their rooms. The sound of the dishwasher sloshing and the sight of laundry room puffing out warm fragrant clouds to the outside. The sound of my littlest son, breathing like a feather into his sheepskin. I'm going to go get my most comfortable socks on and get cracking as well. AHHH! Funny that on the list of Zen ideas was tobogganing, making REAL hot chocolate, baking bread... we did all of those things this week, but this is my kind of "zen" for today: Cleaning the house together. :)