Emily McCombs

When you get a massage somewhere “nice,” they often have a little box to check regarding the gender of your masseuse.

We were at a karaoke bar on a weeknight. I was sitting near a wall-length mirror, and I felt self-conscious about my body. 

My son is particularly anxious about death. He’s generally sensitive — he’s yet to make it through a full movie because anytime there’s a minor conflict he gets too upset and we have to turn it off. We left Zootopia in the theater when the big animals were being too “mean” to the rabbit. We left a screening of Toy Story in the park because he got too anxious when Woody and Buzz got left at the gas station. (We didn’t make it to the genuinely terrifying broken toy hybrids.)