A Day at the Spa

I had a very nice evening with my sister last night. We took each other out for Mother's Day. She took me to Burke Williams (urban day spa) and I took her to dinner. While we were at the spa I noticed something very interesting that has had me thinking all day. For those of you who have never been to a spa, there are steam rooms, saunas, hot bathes - sometimes natural mineral water, hot springs or jacuzzis - and some have cold water pools and mud baths. Generally you pay a fee to use to spa, avail yourself of all the facilities and if you choose you can pay for extra services likes massages, body wraps or various types of scrubs. We had the hot linen detox wrap. It was very nice and included a neck, face and foot massage. Overall a relaxing treatment after which I headed back down to the ladies spa area. That was when I noticed it. You see, spa attire is customarily the robe you are provided and a towel. You don't wear those in to the tubs and wet areas so it is also customary to wear nothing else. Yes, we are all in the buffies. Now understand that the environment is not one of socializing and visiting, it is supposed to be quite, meditative and relaxed. No one is looking at anyone else, we are not there to make new friends or talk shop we are there to leave everything behind and breathe, relax, unwind and refresh our bodies, minds and souls to go back into our lives at the end of the evening. So here I am just out of my detox wrap and the wet room and as I am drinking my cantaloupe, rosemary, lemon water I hear all this conversation. So I look up and see three young girls in their 20's walking toward the jacuzzi. And as they take off their robes to get in I see the most curious thing - bathing suits. Now, nudity is not mandatory and I have on occasion seen an older woman with her bathing suit on. But why would a 20 year old with a perfect L.A. figure, perky front and back, in the prime of her physical beauty feel the need to wear a bathing suit to the spa? Then to top it off, they wouldn't shut up! I even went to the concierge who asked them to lower their voices (which was lame because there is a sign posted right there in the jacuzzi area to refrain from conversation while in there) and they still had to talk! So help me out here, why go the the spa to talk in your bathing suit when you could do that in the jacuzzi at home or at the gym? Why couldn't they be alone with themselves for a while and relax in a place where they didn't have to live up to anyone else's expectations? Why did they attract attention to themselves by talking the whole time while wearing bathing suits as if to say "don't look at me"? I'm still working through this but would really love your input. I weigh 50 lbs. more than I did when I was their age. I've had a baby and gravity has gotten hold of me front and back. Yet there I was, along with all the other women whose bodies have been lived in a while, happy to be in a quiet place, without any distractions including clothes and oh, so comfortable in my skin. Let me tell you, I have a renewed sense of self-esteem because of them. So I leave you with Webster's definition of self-esteem - "a confidence and satisfaction with oneself." Please, kick it around and tell me what you think.