Here’s a quick, wonderful story from a reader, Sydney:

I had an experience today that was memorable for just how ordinary it was.

I was in a Gender class and we were partnered and asked to pick apart what a stay-at-home mother does… After putting down the obvious, my partner said, “How about religious center? I don’t know what your religion is, but my mom’s our religious center” to which I replied, without thinking, “Oh, we’re atheists.”

I immediately regretted putting this out in the open because in the past when someone found out, I got conversion attempts, uncomfortable questions, and a changed relationship with the person.

My partner, a girl whose name I didn’t even know, said, “Oh, okay. Moral center then?”

I almost thanked her for being so cool about it, but I didn’t because I didn’t want to make it weird. It was just a non-issue. She treated me exactly the same after. She never brought it up again, and not because it was she was trying to avoid it. We were genuinely done with the topic and she felt no need to go further.