…that moment when your sinus cavities are so swollen, even the warm saline solution of a neti pot won’t breach their corridors,

…that moment when two of your friends’ parents died yesterday – and you could hardly talk to one spouse in the hospital room because your voice is gone, and you’re supposed to be singing at the other one’s funeral tomorrow morning, but again…no voice,

…that moment when you try to think back through all the people you spoke with this week who were sick, and you shook their hands anyway because you were conducting interviews, and you washed your hands extra times just to make sure you didn’t get sick…but you did anyway,

….that moment when you’re up at 2:30 because you feel at some point your spouse should have rest even if you don’t,

…that moment when you’re wondering when the “Sino-Vac” will be invented…a machine promising to suck all of the badness out of clogged heads and lungs when things like this happen, and will act quickly like the George Jetson cartoon dressing machine, and will only be $29.99 every day at Walgreens…

…that moment when you take an Instagram of your neti pot, because if you can’t cleanse your head you can at least cleanse the woes you feel by posting your woes, no matter how ridiculous you know a behavior like taking an Instagram of your neti pot is,

…that moment when your eldest daughter sends you a text message one minute after you post the Instagram with this message, “You up, sinus queen?”

…that moment when she tells you that she and her sister’s boyfriend ended up going to “The Hobbitt” opening show because her husband and her sister had to work the next day, “but they didn’t,” and “the movie was SO beautiful, mom,” and she’s driving home and you smile because she and her sister are such good friends that any combination of she, her husband, her sister, and her sister’s boyfriend can do things together and you love that so so so much,

…that moment when for once in your life, you’re actually glad you’re up at 3:23 a.m. because even in your miserable, voice-deprived, sinus-packed state, you could talk with your daughter on the phone and hear that things are cool out there.

That moment is now.