Natalie and Nathan: Road Trips, Massages, and Notre Dame

Over the past few weekends the Wisconsin Salts have been playing host to some traveling family members as well as embarking one of their own.

Three weeks ago was conference weekend and we played host to Papa Salt, in town for a HR technology conference in Chicago. Believe me, it sounded about as much fun when described further as the title suggests. Fortunately, Chicago is just a short flight from Madison, so he was able to add a few days to his trip and get to spend some quality time with the granddaughters. As a brief side note, it was kind of fun because I was flying back from Omaha at around the same time and we ended up on the same flight in to Madison. Alana wasn’t as interested in Alfred (Grampy’s mustache) as I am, but she enjoyed the new friend/partner in crime all the same.

This week we were able to play host to another traveling Salt as Matthew came in to town to go to the BYU-Notre Dame football game with Matt and I. Speaking of partners in crime, Matthew wasn’t at our house for 30 minutes before he was encouraging Alana in one of her most discouraged activities, jumping on the couch (the naughty uncle club sure was a lot more fun before I became a father…). On Friday the motley crew left for Valparaiso, IN, where we would spend the night getting hyped up for the game on milkshakes from Steak n’ Shake. On the way, we decided to go to a highly recommended place on the travel channel’s website, Fabulous Freddie’s. Unfortunately, it was in the heart of the south side of Chicago which was both a little sketchy and, with traffic, a significant detour (pronounced ‘75 minute delay’). The food was great (no complaints there), but in the end we just felt lucky to get out of there un-mugged and without Matt’s car getting towed.

This brings us to Saturday, where we will briefly turn our attention to what the Matriarch of the Newest Salts was up to while her man was away for the game. Since I assume you have read the title to this blog post, I won’t ask you to guess, she was getting a massage. I have never had one (unless a facial during my mission counts?) and Natalie is always asking me to do a couple’s massage with her, I am cheap and don’t like other people to touch me, so she has, to this point, had to settle for going on her own. All reports indicate that it was exactly what she was needed. I don’t like talking to the people who cut my hair, so I can’t imagine conversing with a masseuse would be very enjoyable for me, but here is what came out of it for Natalie (perhaps a good indication that I would only be more uncomfortable if talking during the massage). I am not exactly sure how the topic came up, but here is how I imagine it:

Natalie: Have you ever given a massage to someone with a hairy back?

Masseuse: Yes.

Natalie: I couldn’t do that. It would gross me out too much. Did it bother you?

Masseuse: No, not really. I guess it depends on the person. Everyone has things they are okay with and things they aren’t. For me, it would be changing poopy diapers.

Now, this conversation is more or less harmless, but I have to say, if I am getting a massage and poopy diapers come up, I am no longer in a happy place.

*Note from Natalie... It didn't really go like that, but those topics were discussed. At least I didn't have to watch football : )

Speaking of unhappy places/feelings, let’s now turn our attention back to me (Nathan) and our tip to Notre Dame. We headed over to the ND campus early in the day (after a night at a hotel that Matt and Andy say I am not allowed to talk about…) and enjoyed the day taking in the campus. We ran into people from Madison (expected) and Des Moines (unexpected), went in to the Basilica, snapped a photo with ‘Touchdown Jesus’, went to Cougar Town, saw some impressive ND football memorabilia, and stood with all the other fans to cheer as the ND marching band march from the Basilica over to the football stadium. It would have been hard to sit any father from the field, but the stadium was so impressive that you hardly cared. BYU played well and it looked like things might go our way before victory slipped away in favor of the Fighting Irish. Despite the loss (and the unavoidable sad feelings that I get after any Cougar loss) everyone had a good time and all agreed that it would be worth doing again.