A few days ago I met up with my friend Melissa after my acupuncture appointment. She had just gotten out of Pilates, and we had left our two sets of twins home with our husbands so we could get Thai food in hip Sugar House. “This does not really seem like who we are as people,” she said, as we sat down. I had to agree. We’re not really Pilates/Acupuncture/Thai-food moms. But, there we were, in our Lulus, sheepishly enjoying ourselves.
“So,” Melissa asked me, “Why are you going to acupuncture?”
I paused—not because I was embarrassed to tell her—but because in that moment, I realized why I am going to acupuncture once a week right now: to take a nap.
I am not kidding. I’m paying $60 a week (more for the herbs) to take a nap. Twin moms, you get it, right?
I can’t nap at home. I can’t really even sleep at home. I also can’t sleep sitting up in the car, unfortunately for me. I used to bust my neighbor in Mill Valley asleep in her minivan all the time, her three kids passed out in their car seats, an eye pillow over her face. “Geez,” I would think. “Is it that hard to be a mom?”
Yes, yes it is. And oh how I wish I could sleep that way.
Instead, every Thursday evening, I drive into Sugar House and lie on a table in a supremely serene room and sleep like a baby with a bunch of needles stuck all up over me. It is by far the best sleep I get all week.
The other reason I go to acupuncture is for the therapy. Acupuncturists, in my experience, are fantastic listeners. They never try to make it about your childhood, and they give great restaurant recommendations. I’ve had quite a few terrific acupuncturists, and I’m happy to have found this one here in Utah.
The best thing about my new acupuncturist is that she, like me, is not from here. She, like me, is from a very no-nonsense place east of here (me: Massachusetts; her; Germany, which is about as no-nonsense as it gets). And she, like me, spent many years in the Bay Area, came here for love, and doesn’t quite fit in.
So yeah, the other reason I’m going to acupuncture is to add to my small but growing collection of groovy liberal expats living in conservative suburban Utah.
