yesterday

Turns out, Mom and I just don't do Vegas. We talked about it, tried it, packed accordingly, grabbed the cameras and our wallets, and napped. Twice. We covered at least 9.4 miles between the casino-seeing and shopping, and managed to get about 2 shades darker on our shoulder tans. We were just so excited for our mother-daughter trip that we quite possibly wore ourselves out before it even began. Regardless, the things we managed to squeeze into our two and-a-half day time frame were utterly delightful.

Kelly Clarkson and The Fray.

Facials and massages and body scrubs.

Shopping (kinda) and eating.

There was no...

Gambling, drinking, staying up late, or night-clubbing. Apparently, we do Vegas a little differently than most folks.

By day two, we realized we had walked on the surface of the sun for way too long. It was time for a little relaxing and pampering! Relaxing and pampering the way you dream it, I might add You walk through the glass doors and they know you by name. They guide you around the corner, back towards a room filled with sandals and showers, and you slip into your robe. Each shower has its own "scent", filled with shampoos and soaps that smell of lemongrass and green tea, or cocoa mango, or chamomile and rosebuds. They bring you water or juice and seat you in large, cushioned cabana chairs.

I was all ready for my sugar scrub. (This dry heat has taken its toll on my once baby-soft skin.) She mixed and stirred and rubbed and scrubbed. As the sweet sugar droplets and buttery oil swept its way across my arms and legs, I could feel the skin of yesterday fall away. There was no dirt, wind, heat, or deadness left, just the new, bright, healthy skin. As I felt the oldness melt, I was keenly aware of the chains of yesterday melt away, too. Yesterday, I had gotten angry and frustrated; I had been disappointed, and probably ate too much. I had been upset about a current situation, even eager to change my life's scenery in an instant. I had been fearful of the unknown, worried that things don't actually work out.

But yesterday was peeling away, leaving my body, my mind, my heart. Yesterday was just a grain on the floor. Yesterday was far from my sight, out of my memory, and only today was left.

Maybe you're on a diet and you ate a donut yesterday. Maybe you lied to your neighbor about where you had to be instead of accepting a dinner invite. Maybe you damned your boss to the Sahara. Maybe you skipped the movie because public places are terrifying. Maybe you got angry at your child or your friend, maybe you forgot to say I'm sorry or I love you, or maybe you took a 5 hour nap instead of doing the laundry. All it takes is a little sugar and a new day--you don't have to think about yesterday anymore.

Surely there is something to be said for the mistakes and the bumps that help us change and grow and become better, but when yesterday becomes a chain—a big, fat mistake in the timeline of your life, there is no great growth in that—only sadness. A lesson learned prevents bad things from happening; a guilty chain prevents you from living at all.

So, spend a few moments and sugar-scrub that junk out of your life. Say goodbye to the dead skins and old pieces of yesterday, and lather up in the newness and goodness of today. There is only enough grace for today—you used up yesterday's portion, yesterday.