It’s odd. I remember it fairly clearly. I had been lying on the couch, looking out the big picture window at the evening, and alternately putting the bead in my nostril and blowing it out. This one time, it didn’t come back out. Cue the freaked out mother, trip to ER, and general mayhem to get a cute little pink plastic bead out of my nose.

Tonight, as I was making dinner, Redding walked calmly into the kitchen. He had been playing nicely with Annabella down in the family room. He said, “Mom, I’ve got something fuzzy in my nose.” Since he’s been sick, I figured he just needed to blow his nose. So I got a tissue and started to vigorously coach him through blowing his nose. Then I noticed that really only one side was blowing.

Uh oh.

I asked him to tip his head back and I looked into his tiny 4 year old nostrils. I saw nothing in the one that was blowing, and nothing in the one that wasn’t blowing. Except the nothing was bigger. Was there some sort of black hole forming in my sons nose? I thought not.

“Hold on buddy!” I enthused, as I tried to tip his head farther back and pull the offending nostril out further to get some idea what we were up against. Nothing. Nada. I made no contact, I got no further information. A second of panic and then a brisk trot up the stairs to find my tweezers.

I put the little guy, who really seemed a bit baffled, up on the counter, turned the light on, tipped his head back and took the first shallow dip with the tweezers.

“Are they pointy? Will they hurt me?”

“Just be still, buddy. Just be still, I won’t hurt you if I can help it. The more still you are, the more careful and gentle I can be.”

About the time I burst into a mild sweaty panic, I made contact. I pulled the small round felt black olive out of his nose.

Then we had a hug and a nice tedious repetitive chat about how “We Don’t Put Things Up Our Noses.” Never ever ever ever again, got it? Period. End of story.

What finally got me over the hump? What made me write today? Certainly my kids have done loads of cute and wonderful things in the last few weeks. I’ve got photos to prove it, not that I’ve posted even one of them. Both kids are going to camp next week, that alone is HUGE.

I’ll tell you what got me over this awful hump. This morning we were in the car, driving to the gym where I teach yoga. Patsy Cline came on the radio (you gotta love The Current) and I said, “When I was little, I remember my Nana used to play Patsy Cline.”

Redding said, “Who is Nana?” I reminded him that it was Grandma Pam’s Mom. My Mom’s Mom.

Annabella said, “I wish we could go see her again.” I told them we can’t go see her anymore, she died a while back.

Redding asked, “Where is she?” I semi-redirected him and said that she had lived in Pennsylvania, where Grandma Pam lives, and that she is buried there.

Annabella asked if we could go visit her grave and leave her presents. I said, “Maybe someday, sweetie.”

Redding said, “I wish Grandma Pam would come visit.”

And that is when I finally told my kids that my Mom has cancer. That she’s sick, that she’s not up for traveling these days. But that she loves them very much. I did it in the car, looking at the road, listening to Patsy Cline. And I managed not to cry or be dramatic about it.

So there. I climbed a mountain.

In a few weeks, I’ll climb another. Walking all night on Friday, August 5, my Mom’s birthday, in the Relay for Life. If you’d like to contribute, you can click here. I’ve raised $815, with the help of generous family and friends and I’m very grateful.

Now you can comment. Tell me what hurdles you’re facing. Tell me something beautiful. Just tell me something. I’ll use this Random Number Picker to select a winner, on Friday, August 5. Winner will be notified by e-mail.