It’s getting to be that time of year, you know spring, when tons of people get married.  Love is in the air and all.  My in-laws have been married for 37 years now.  They were the first and honestly only adult couple I saw kiss lovingly on the lips and really mean it – regularly.  Since I was a teen I have been capturing them kissing.  They would always groan when they realized I got another one of them smooching.  But it made my heart warm.  It gave me hope that couples really could make it.  Every few months they go away for a weekend, just the two of them and reconnect.

So when they said to us two years ago to leave them the baby and spend the night in a hotel, we listened.  They said you don’t have to do anything fancy, just get a hotel room and spend the night.  Away from your place, the mess, the stress, the every day grind – just get away for the night.  We stayed at a hotel up in White Plains.  It wasn’t anything overly fancy.  It was a very nice mid range hotel room.  But it was perfect.  We brought champagne (for me – he doesn’t drink), chocolates, massage oil.. it was amazing.  We slept.  My how we slept.  Last year we didn’t stay in a hotel, we went out for dinner and stayed home and it was nice but it just wasn’t the same.

I can’t believe it was 6 years ago we got married!

This year my husband gave me the option of going to see Paramore before it went off Broadway (it is a show I have been dying to see) or spend the night at a hotel.  We looked up ticket prices for the show and then we started pricing out local hotels.  I found that the Marriott is now having special packages they call Experiences by Marriott that are actually very close to our price range – okay they were a little more than the tickets would have been… but it was close enough.  They have three packages that piqued my interest, the couples package, the culinary getaway and the spa package.  The couples package you get a bottle of champagne, chocolates and late check out.  The culinary getaway there are two different levels – depending on how much you pay for the room is how much of a gift card you get and which restaurant it is good for.  Then there is the spa package.  Now we are a working family.  The words spa and massage do not normally come out of our mouths.  For $350 we could spend the night in a hotel with a pool in Norwalk and get a $200 gift card for a massage at a spa called Dermage Spa 10 minutes from the hotel.  The spa has a few different couples massages and the Swedish Massage is $225 for 60 mins.  Just reading about it I knew this is what I wanted.  My husband works very hard and he could definitely use a massage, as could I.

So that’s what we did and let me tell you it was absolutely perfect.  The room was perfect. It was dim and cozy, with an electric fireplace casting a soft glow.  The tables were heated and they used a eucalyptus blend body cream because its spring and it helps to clear your sinuses. I have never had a massage so amazing in my life.  My serotonin and oxytocin levels were sky rocketing and she literally worked every kink out of my back.  We have a three year old that jumps and hangs off of me ALL day long.  I have plantar fasciitis in my feet and I have been wearing the boot to stretch the one foot out that I had it in previously.  Well, my knee has been hurting me real bad since I have been wearing the boot.  She massaged my leg, my knee didn’t hurt at all, and I had no problem walking.  My husband had a similar experience with his shoulder.  We were both so calmed, relaxed and rejuvenated.  We joked about not wanting to go back and just relaxing in a park somewhere in Connecticut for a bit so we could extend the buzz we both had going. We are planning on going back.

It was marvelous.  We deserved it.  You deserve it.  Treat yourself and your spouse. Reconnect and rekindle that love that turned you into a family.