Moon Palace Spa
At 1:11 today, Mom and I were driving ‘Babe’ (Fraser’s, now my, car) to a hydrotherapy spa with good friends. I remarked about the time stamp and then tried to talk myself out of the fact it has been three weeks. Maybe he’s only really been gone two and it feels like three? Mom confirmed it was, in fact, three.
I mean, in total 6 weeks, but there was the before and then the after. It feels like the first three weeks didn’t really exist. I suppose the punctuation on our journey sort of made its point.
The last time Fraser and I were at the spa was in February in Mexico…man have we had some awesome adventures! I suppose (I know) some people say, ‘must be nice’….and…it is. And that’s the life that Fraser created for us…and worked hard for. So, I will take it and try to set any guilt aside.
At the same time, looking back and knowing the punctuation mark was going to arrive sooner, I am beyond grateful we had the adventures we did.
I think our best spa story was years ago when Fraser ‘won’ an online United Way auction at work. Connor was working in Japan at the time so Fraser called and asked me to see how much 2 first class tickets to Japan to visit him would be. I think it was roughly $10k…each!
It was the last day of the auction and Fraser had just seen two first-class tickets to anywhere in the world that United Way and its partners flew. ANYWHERE! First class!!! With 30 seconds to go until the end of the auction he bid $2500…and won! He kept reminding me we still had to pay and didn’t actually ‘win’ but that was just semantics in my mind.
When we lived in Regina we had various international students live with us. We loved the opportunity for our children to learn about other cultures and also helped us make a little money with the spare bedrooms we had. We have kept many of those friendships alive over the past 15-17 or so years. 2 of our ‘children’, Tamanon,14 and his sister, Pavitra, 16 (affectionately called Ham and Hom by their family) convinced us that Thailand was the best choice to use our first class tickets (Connor had since moved onto New York). Fraser always said the only way he would travel abroad was if he could fly first class…or at least Premium. To be fair, he did tend to need a bit more space.
SO, off to Thailand to visit Hom (Ham had moved to Calgary the same year we did) and do the touristy things, but also have a beach vacation. That was our compromise. We spent a week in Krabi and booked a couples spa…see, I didn’t forget where I was going with this story.
We were given a small package; a towel and a robe. We were then shown to our ‘change room’ (basically curtains separated by another curtain) in a large room since it was a couples massage. The therapists were in awe of Fraser’s size and kept looking way up and giggling with him.
When I opened the package (it was the size of a condom package…not joking!) I gasped and started laughing hysterically. Fraser must have opened his at the same time and said, ‘NOPE!’. In the package was a set of ‘underwear’. They were mesh and…tiny. I begged him to please put it on. Omg. The laughter that ensued was…well, it’s still etched in my memory. They asked if we were ready, Fraser replied, ‘NO’ and we finally agreed he could wear his boxers. Every spa we’d go to I would ask if they had a teeny set of underwear for him. It was our inside joke.
So, our last spa was in Mexico. And my first spa without him was…nah…joking….of course I’ve been to the spa without him over the years. He would book them for me as a treat! He would only ever agree to go with me during holidays. I loved our holidays for that. And now my
holidays will be different.
As much as there are lasts, I was reminded that it leaves room for new firsts as well. So, I’m trying to find joy in new firsts….sometimes it just starts with some tears.
Xo, Brooke
p.s. Ham has recently travelled back to Thailand, and as part of his tradition, will visit 9 temples and make donations in Fraser’s name. What a(nother) beautiful tribute.🙏
That is so cool you got to see Hom at her home.
Six weeks of intense stress. Time really depends on what one is doing.
I am jealous of what you had and have but I'm so happy for you and know you deserve(ed) and earn(ed) what you had and have. Your life has not been a cake walk (sprout!), but you have sashayed through it with grace. You well know things can change in a moment so your ability to be grateful for what you had and have makes us ugly, single, fat, broke, crippled up, old people admire you more. ;)