Lucky me.
For those of you who know me, you know that I tend to be known as a rather extreme activist for children's issues. Since 1989, I've traveled thousands of miles in my wheelchair raising awareness and funds for children's organizations and, along the way, I've had the terrific opportunity to encounter some true gems across the country.
Davida Cartwright, founder/owner of Wabash Valley Massage in Terre Haute, is one of the true gems.
Now, out of full disclosure I'll confess that my initial encounter with Davida has been through one of my wheeling events that I call the Tenderness Tour. In this case, I was wheeling across trails from Terre Haute to Indy and one of my roadies in Terre Haute had arranged for what I expected to be a quick work-up on my tattered and torn shoulders to help me make it through the week-long event.
As I was wheeling two particular trails on the day I met Davida, she actually joined us for the first trail, a public event in memory of a local child who'd died from neglect. Following the relatively short trail, she hung out while I handled my PR, press obligations, etc.
As she was only working on my shoulders and neck, privacy wasn't really an issue. We sat in the relative quiet beauty of Terre Haute's Collett Park and she began working on my obviously knotted up shoulders.
I am not really the touchiest person in the world. As an introvert, a sexual abuse survivor and a person with a fairly pronounced disability, I pretty much keep to myself. I can certainly be fully present with folks, but I'm seldom, if ever, going to initiate touch in any way. I have no idea if Davida had been informed of my background, my gut feeling was that she had been, but I liked that she took a few moments to talk with me before even initiating touch.
What I expected to maybe be a few minutes, became what could only be considered a true "session," though admittedly one out in public and certainly qualifying as non-traditional. I was impressed, and rather grateful, that she sort of kept in contact with me with a low-key conversation while listening to my body to figure out where I needed work the most. Over the course of nearly an hour, she kept mindfully working with a full-on presence and gentleness that eased my anxieties and also worked wonders with my shoulders. Not so coincidentally, it would only be two days later that her work really made a difference as I handled some truly difficult trails in Greencastle that led to multiple falls from the wheelchair. While these trails were difficult, Davida had so wonderfully prepared my neck and shoulders that I came through those trails with only mild discomfort.
As someone who has also worked within healthcare, you could tell that she was genuinely comfortable with my disability - yes, that should be an obvious but, trust me, it's not. As my health has declined somewhat in recent years, I've been hesitant to return to massage therapy and without even doing so intentionally she sort of put my mind at ease with it all.
If you check out the Wabash Valley Massage Therapy website, you'll also see that their rates are remarkably reasonable and two of the three therapists in the office also work with essential oils.
Truly, I can't speak highly enough of Davida - not just because of her willingness to help out the Tenderness Tour but because of her genuine professionalism, authentic compassion and skilled massage techniques that went above and beyond in a more unique setting. If you're in the Terre Haute area and seeking massage, I can't imagine you'd find a better option. If I lived closer, I wouldn't hesitate to work with her again and I unequivocally recommend her quite highly. read more
