At least two and often three times a day I rinse my nose with warm water. Leaning over the bathroom sink, I take water in as deep as I can, and then I blow it out. And I blow hard. This I do four or five times, until both nostrils are clean of mucus. This I have been doing for years. I do not even remember when I started. But each and every time I rinse my nose, I am stunned by the stubbornness of all the slime that comes out. It just sticks to the sink, no matter how polished the porcelain. Each and every time I have to push all the gook down the sinkhole with my fingers. Slime is stunning in its resistance to warm water. It is resilient. Hardy. Unyielding to the point of being impressive. Striking. Uplifting. And maybe even inspiring, for there is much to learn from it. At any rate, what started as a mild complaint about some unwelcome properties of mucus that accumulates in the nose ended up as an ode to slime. Ah, wondrous slime!