“You know what I’d really like to try for dinner?
 
 French onion soup. I hope they have French onion soup.”
 
 “Oh, they have French onion soup,” Steph’s muffled
 
 voice assures me.
 
 Some of the rocks get rearranged on my back. It’s also
 
 weird to be naked from the waist up in front of strangers, but I
 
 guess if you do this for a living, a body is a body. Kind of like
 
 a doctor, maybe. For me it felt weird putting on the robe they
 
 gave us but then taking it off. Steph did it completely
 
 naturally. The oil and the rocks were worth it. I’ve really
 
 enjoyed this, I realize, as the rocks get shifted again. They’re
 
 hardly warm now, so I’m sure that we’re coming to the end of
 
 the massage. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I did enjoy it. I
 
 guess it did make me happy.
 
 Pretty soon we’re left to get dressed again. Steph gives
 
 me a nervous, hesitant look as we exit the spa area. “How was
 
 it? Was it okay?”
 
 “Yeah! I loved it.”
 
 “I thought you might have liked part of it, but not other
 
 parts, and then you wouldn’t consider doing it again.”
 
 “Some of it was weird, I guess, but that’s okay.”
 
 “Some discomfort is okay with things, I find. I used to
 
 think that because something was uncomfortable that it wasn’t
 
 okay, but I’ve learned that that’s not really true. Especially
 
 with teaching. Learning actually makes lots of people
 
 uncomfortable. It challenges your perception of life and the
 
 world most of the time and for lots of people, even young
 
 people, that’s really hard.”
 
 “Really? Do you find that?”
 
 “All the time.”