THE FUTURE OF TOUCH

Spa aficionado MARY BEMIS traveled to New York to receive her first massage from a robot.

- MARY BEMIS

THIS MONTH BEGAN in a most unusual way. I flew to New York City from my home in Oregon for a 10-minute date with a touchy-feely robot in Chelsea. There was some comfort in the location—my mother and her sisters grew up in Chelsea, and I knew the neighborhood well. If my departed mother knew that I would be returning to Chelsea on a dreary January day to get a massage from a robot, I wonder what she would’ve thought. She, more than most, intimately knew all about the healing power of touch. At 18 months old, she was stricken with polio—but she fared better than most. Why? The short answer is because her mother massaged her legs every day. For years. But that’s a story for another time. Bottom line: I was raised with the knowledge of the power of touch. It permeated our household; it was a part of daily life. It was simply a given.