Boogers.

So we are up in the mountains where it's delightfully cold, and what happens? Noses start running. Normally up there the air is dry enough that everything that would normally run out evaporates before it even thinks about coming out the nose, but not this time.

Not really a huge deal- we grabbed a box of kleenex from the hotel, tossed it in the car, and usually remembered to keep Kleenex in our pockets just in case.

Except once- the first day we dropped the boy off at ski lessons. The boy is 7, and generally does a good job of wiping his nose when asked, but as the namesake for "snot-nosed kids," the boy is notoriously bad about wiping his nose on his own, and if he does, it's almost always with his sleeve.

So we are just about to leave the boy at his lesson when he turns around to say goodbyes and sniffles his nose, as he has been doing. Just as I start to lean in for a little peck on the cheek with good luck wishes, I notice the giant green booger hanging out of his nose. As I turn to his dad to ask if he has a tissue, it gets worse. That's when the snot bubble appears. The ugly, nasty green snot bubble that grows in and out with each breath the kid takes.

My husband and I just look at each other- me with the, "your kid, your booger" look, and him with the, "ewwww! Snot bubble!" look, and both of us come to the realization that we can't just leave him that way. And, to top it off, neither of us has a Kleenex. The kid looks like a miniature marshmallow man in his puffed up, shiny slick snow gear, so his sleeve isn't exactly an option...

After a brief stare down, I realize that my own time to ski is being wasted on this nasty booger bubble, not to mention the poor kid standing there looking defeated and slightly embarrassed by this thing, and I do the grossest thing I can possibly think of and wipe the darn thing off with my bare fingers. I wiped it off in the snow before my brain had time to process the fact that the child's boogers were on my bare fingers. Then I threw up in my mouth a little and promptly informed my husband that he owes me big for that one.

I'm not sure I had ever seen quite the look on my husbands face. It was some combination of thankfulness, disgust, and shock and awe.

I'm shuddering just thinking about it. Moral of the story: keep Kleenex handy at all times...