The biggest luxury, however, was waking up the following morning and not having to do anything. Sure, I could have worked out at the gym or tried the aerial yoga. But if Heather and I chose just to relax, Life as We Know It probably wouldn’t end. I didn’t have to make anyone’s breakfast; just opened the door to collect the breakfasts we’d ordered the night before. Flipping through a magazine while nibbling eggs Benedict, I decided this was the kind of morning I could get used to. The only appointment on our schedule was a 10 a.m. couple’s massage—delivered, like our breakfast, in-room, thanks to a partnership between Hotel Wailea and Ho‘omana Spa Maui.
It was our first couple’s massage since—you guessed it—having children, and once the therapists set up their massage tables and transformed the room with flowers, they walked us through the healing elements we were about to experience. We’d chosen the Couples Paradise Retreat, which featured a body scrub with exfoliating salts, lotions and mists made from lavender and lemongrass grown at Ho‘omana’s Pi‘iholo location in Upcountry Maui.
As Heather and I lay face down on the treatment tables, our session began with an oli, or chant, followed by the song “E O Mai,” by Keali‘i Reichel, playing in the background.
“Did you plan that?” asked Heather, her voice conveying a sense of calm I hadn’t heard in ages.
“I swear I didn’t,” I replied, then explained to the therapist, “She walked down the aisle to that song when we got married.”
For the next fifty minutes, I let the massage therapist release years of tension and stress from my muscles, and I did my best to quiet my harried mind. The massage finished with a warm bath, infused with ‘awa and coconut milk, drawn in the suite’s plunge-sized tub.
Immersed in the tub, relaxed, refreshed, and reset, I realized what made this stay so special: instead of taking care of our children, we were the ones being cared for. It’s an occasional luxury that everyone deserves—even if just for a night.