One Minute Behind

As an addendum to my previous post that describes my daily routine I must comment on the significance of a minute. To some, one minute may seem but a fraction of time barely worth mentioning when it is lost, yet in the world of a parent, it is a very valuable moment in time and once "lost" can mean the difference between late and on time. Case in point... baby has her first cold this week. Poor little thing has a stuffy nose, and when babies have a stuffy nose, every parent knows where to turn. The notorious bulb syringe, or, a more colorful name that I've heard it referred to as the "booger sucker". Yes, disgusting in the visual it presents yet accurate. Well, the ritual nose cleaning of baby must take place before she eats, before she sleeps and basically any chance we can to help clear the airways. So in the morning, before I take her to daycare, I want to make sure she is as clear as I can get her. This can be tricky as M has gotten particularly good at worming away from the "evil" bulb. So inevitably, with the worming and squirming and the adorable "mewing" noise she makes when she's mad and telling me so, I can fall one or two minutes behind and that, well that just throws the whole schedule out of whack! One minute over and I'm late starting and loading the car, which puts me two minutes behind when I would have left, which puts more cars on the road then would have been two minutes earlier, which inevitably leads to running late. So to be clear, one minute is no minuscule fraction of time, in fact, seconds count because they add up to these precious minutes of time. I'm sure many parents can attest to the sacredness of "the minute" and I'm not only referring to the minute that can make you late, I'm also referring to the minute you get home and get to enjoy every second away from work as you can. After all, every minute counts! Late or not, that doesn't mean you have to rush, it just means you'll be one minute behind. No use trying to rush to catch up because once that minute is gone, it's in the past! So enjoy each one!