I thought I was being nice. Being the perfect boyfriend who recognized when his partner needed a day of relaxation and pampering. It was a mistake. All of it. And I possess full ownership of that decision. She’d just been so stressed from work. She’s in retail, and because of the holidays, the higher-ups had her on deck 6 days a week, 12 hours a day. She complained to me daily about her aching feet and tired brain, and from the moment she uttered her first distress call, the idea hatched in my head. How great would it be, right? The perfect gift. I didn’t want to just throw out some generic 20 dollar gift card for some foot-soaking in warm water; I wanted to make sure she got a fully exclusive experience. I scoured the internet for a bit. For the first 30 minutes or so, all I could find were cheap, sketchy-looking parlors that I felt my girlfriend had no business with. After some time, however, I found it. “Sûren Tide,” the banner read. Beneath the logo and company photos, they had pl...
I am a 42-year-old male, I consider myself healthy, and I’ve always been active, exercising regularly. I never imagined I would go through what I experienced on December 14th. That Sunday was a perfect day, just a regular, peaceful one. I waited for my wife to get home from her shift (she is a doctor), we went to the grocery store, laughed, and talked. In the evening, we ordered some takeout, watched Netflix on the couch, and went to sleep around 11 PM. Everything was normal. Total peace. My memory of that day ends exactly there, with my head hitting the pillow. The next memory I have is opening my eyes at 5:00 AM, lying on a gurney in the ER, surrounded by bright lights and hospital noises. What I am about to tell you is a reconstruction of what happened in that interval, based on my wife's account. And I’ll say this upfront: if it weren't for my dogs and my wife, I wouldn't be writing this today. **The Canine Alarm** Around 1:00 AM, I got up to go to the bathroom. I have...