A Metaphor For More?

"I have bouggers!"
"Mom, I need a Kleenex."
"There's mucous!"


Any way B2 says it, this means that every few minutes he needs me to wipe his cold stuck little nose. Is this simply wiping his nose or it this constant need for Mom indicative of something greater, suggestive of something more?

Each moment he is taking me away from reading a new book called Mama PhD. It occurs to me my maternal self and my academic self may not be that separate after all. I go upstairs, I wipe his nose, then I return to the narrative of another mama academic.

Perhaps my academic self is always being pulled in the direction of my maternal self. But, what do I make of the opposite process, which I feel sometimes, when my maternal self is pulled in the direction of my academic self?

Or... maybe it is just wiping a kid's nose!

... And, again I hear, "Mom, I need a KLEEEEEEEEEEEeeneX!