[Note: If bruising and marks aren't things you want to see, please don't read this post!]
I can't possibly contain my glee over the past weekend a moment longer, and HNT's as good a time for it as any, no? Especially with the pictures that were taken, like this one:

This is what I got for not meeting my daily quota of writing at all last week, plus a few other small offenses. All caning, with a bamboo cane I found ages ago. My lover has decided that punishment is cumulative, and occasionally starts the week with a bit of carry-over from the previous one. So this week started at four carry-over which means Monday was five more, Tuesday six -- and so on. I believe we ended up with about forty-six total, and my love was very pleased with me for being able to take them all.
That, however, was not the high point of my weekend. The high point was Saturday, where I got a beating several times worse than the one above. And the reason that's the high point (as I suspect you're wondering)?
It brought me to tears, for the first time ever.
I asked for this, and it was nothing short of glorious. I stretched out on the bed, arms around a pillow and took whatever he gave me. Not quietly. I moaned and gasped and whimpered and writhed, even, but I only asked him to go easier at one point. That was a slightly-too-hard stroke across the flesh of my shoulder. He said he was happy to know I would use my safewords if I needed to. (Yellow and Red -- I like to keep things simple.)
So he hit me, over and over, pausing to stroke my sore ass and slip his fingers inside me. Being fingered from behind while he takes the cane to me or spanks me is one of the most incredible feelings ever -- it was the one that finally brought me over the edge into tears that day. The whole time is kind of fuzzy in my memory, but I remember that one moment clearly.
I broke into tears, arching off the bed and absolutely sobbing. My whole body shook, and he was there beside me, warm and soothing, touching me and whispering to me that I was good, I could cry, I should let go, he was there for me.
And so I wept until I just had nothing left to cry about.
Then, then I was free, I was light as a feather and safe, deep down into the submissive corners of my mind, held in his arms where nothing could hurt me. It's buoyed me up through the entire week so far. All I have to do is get to a mirror, flip up my skirt and glance at the rather impressive bruises, and I remember those moments of bliss. My productivity is up, my mood is downright chipper, and I feel like I've discovered the Holy Grail of stress relief.
I pay for it in bruising, however, as my skin is about as tough as your average peach. This is from early Wednesday morning (so three to four days post-beating):

You can imagine how impressive they were the evening of! My lover suggested we go see a movie as we were driving past a theater -- I just looked over at him and said, "There is no way I want to sit in theater seats for two hours right now." He pouted at me, and I pointed out that it was entirely his fault.
Then, of course, we managed to hit a red light and had to kiss and make up. It was a great weekend.