About six weeks ago, the Monday after Thanksgiving, I ran into Yvonne (ee-vahn-uh) Waller in Charlottesville at Whole Foods. Since she pulled me out of her pedicure chair during the big earthquake our paths have not crossed. She swears she saved my neck when it occurred to her that the roaring outside was the earth quaking, not a train derailing. Standing in the doorjamb of her spa’s entrance, we watched the backside of downtown shake rattle and roll. Nary a single chip of paint fell, so I’m hard pressed to know how she saved me then, but she has now.
If a change in routine hadn’t forced me to create a new rut I might be as young looking as Benjamin Button in his twilight years. Time, however, quickstepped in stilettos across my face but hardly grazed hers. When you haven’t seen someone in five years you expect some changes. Shocked by Yvonne youthful visage, like any woman, I scanned her face for lines. None! Clearly, she had discovered the fountain of youth. Whatever she was up to, I wanted in. On the phone the next day I blurted, “Sign me up for what you are doing. I don’t care what it is, short of the black arts. If chicken feet are involved, we’d need to talk. When can you see me?”
To my amazement, she responded, “How about now?” Standing in her shop twenty minutes later, I suffered a pang of uh-oh-what-have-I-gotten-myself-into kind of dread. The lady in question is straightforward holding little if anything back. As I stood there just inside the door, I felt not unlike a field mouse must when aware it is caught in the bead of a hawk’s scrutinizing stare. I did ask for this appointment, so there was no way to back out now. Where I stood in the skin care specialist’s eyes was sorely in need of a facial and a mini peel. Afterward, she thought I would benefit from a laser treatment and twelve minutes on the Zaaz.
In lieu of a magic wand a laser will do the job. My dog Hagar owes his mobility to Dr. Chip Godine’s (Ruckersville Animal Hospital) skill with the device. Chip, by the way, is a world-renowned expert on veterinary laser therapy. He helped write the textbook right there in little old Ruckersville. Several years ago a broken ankle I suffered healed in three weeks thanks to Gordon Merrick’s abilities with the healing red lights. His brother Dr. Randy Merrick routinely employs the magic power of lasers in his practice in Orange.
With a twenty-first century arsenal of skin care on the table, without a moment’s hesitation, I put my skin in the game. I look fantastic for it, too! I’m not bragging merely stating the facts. Other than having the wisdom to follow Yvonne back to her magic emporium and placing myself in her capable hands, I had little to do with the transformation. I owe the remarkable change in appearance to De Estheticienne’s skill.
My metamorphosis didn’t escape Hubs’ notice though several days passed before he could figure out how to broach the subject with the utmost diplomacy. Prone to hyperbole, he says history has taught him to approach matters of this nature with extreme caution.
If I didn’t feel duty bound to share Ms. Waller’s brilliance, I would keep her under wraps to hear the speculation as to what sort of deal I made with the devil. As a public service announcement, I am imploring you to stop whatever beauty regimen you are following (especially if a knife or injections are involved) and high tail it to 202 Mayhugh Street Gordonsville as fast as your little legs can carry you. Here is the phone number 540-832-3688 so that you can make an appointment. This remarkably gifted esthetician’s abilities are nothing short of miraculous. She was able to take my old battered, weather-beaten face and make it better than it was twenty years ago, scout’s honor! Give the woman a prune and I swear she would hand you back a juicy plum in no time. She’s that good!
As many of you may be aware, Yvonne worked for ten years at the Keswick Club. In 2007, she opened a shop of her own. Don’t let her Dutch/Orange County patois fool you. Yvonne is not your typical pretty, unlined face. Before she moved to the U.S. from Holland, this smart lady spent two years after college as a registered pharmacist. Once her husband Gordonsville native, Conrad Waller finished his landscape design school he wanted to move back to his hometown. A four-year stint working in the inpatient pharmacy at UVa Hospital helped her decide to switch professions. Back home she went to school, she didn’t stop at becoming an esthetician. She received certification as a massage therapist including pregnancy massage. Never one to do things by half, she also got herself certified as an aerobics instructor through the best organization for such accreditation in her country The Dutch Gymnastic Association. To add to her list of skills she is a holistic health counselor and coach as well as schooled in aromatherapy.
Ask her to let you take her Zaaz machine for a spin. Twelve minutes on the whole body vibration machine is equivalent to an hour in the gym. And it makes a major difference in your body in less than three weeks. She applies as much precession in choosing her product lines, as you would expect from a former pharmacist. She only carries a few because everything she uses and sells must meet her rigorous specifications to not only enhance beauty but also health. An avid learner she is always adding to her well-stocked wheelhouse. She’s got you covered from head to toe.
Now that I have made an enormous humanitarian contribution to the area by informing you of the unheralded treasure down the road make sure to leave some time for me to keep up my beautiful new face.