There are two different types of time. Chronos time is what we live in. It’s regular time, it’s one minute at a time, it’s staring down the clock till bedtime time, it’s ten excruciating minutes in the Target line time, it’s four screaming minutes in time out time, it’s two hours till daddy gets home time. Chronos is the hard, slow passing time we parents often live in.

Then there’s Kairos time. Kairos is God’s time. It’s time outside of time. It’s metaphysical time. It’s those magical moments in which time stands still. I have a few of those moments each day. And I cherish them.

Like when I actually stop what I’m doing and really look at Tish. I notice how perfectly smooth and brownish her skin is. I notice the perfect curves of her teeny elf mouth and her asianish brown eyes, and I breathe in her soft Tishy smell. In these moments, I see that her mouth is moving but I can’t hear her because all I can think is — This is the first time I’ve really seen Tish all day, and my God — she is so beautiful. Kairos.

Like when I’m stuck in chronos time in the grocery line and I’m haggard and annoyed and angry at the slow check-out clerk. And then I look at my cart and I’m transported out of chronos. And suddenly I notice the piles and piles of healthy food I’ll feed my children to grow their bodies and minds and I remember that most of the world’s mamas would kill for this opportunity. This chance to stand in a grocery line with enough money to pay. And I just stare at my cart. At the abundance. The bounty. Thank you, God. Kairos.

Or when I curl up in my cozy bed with Theo asleep at my feet and Craig asleep by my side and I listen to them both breathing. And for a moment, I think- how did a girl like me get so lucky? To go to bed each night surrounded by this breath, this love, this peace, this warmth? Kairos.

These kairos moments leave as fast as they come- but I mark them. I say the word kairos in my head each time I leave chronos. And at the end of the day, I don’t remember exactly what my kairos moments were, but I remember I had them. And that makes the pain of the daily parenting climb worth it.

–Glennon Melton, Don’t Carpe Diem

Kids are cute, babies are cute, puppies are cute. The little things are cute. See, nature did this on purpose so that we would want to take care of our young. Made them cute. Tricked us. Then gradually they get older and older, until one day your mother sits you down and says, “You know, I think you’re ugly enough to get your own apartment.”

–Cathy Ladman

“A grapefruit is a lemon that had a chance and took advantage of it.”

–Oscar Wilde

Please adjust your pace.

Love,

Me

Only the mediocre are always at their best.

–Jean Giraudoux

If Pac-Man had affected us as kids, we’d all be running around in dark rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive electronic music.

– Marcus Bridgstocke

But when sick, it’s hard to know one is hungry, because smell and taste are linked so closely; even a growling stomach feels muffled to some extent. Tonight I was able to taste my dinner. It was lovely.

I can mostly breathe, smell, and taste again. Almost 100% back to healthy.

And here is Claire, pretending to be a fire-breathing dragon. She’s become much more cooperative with the breathing treatments, especially if she has her father’s fancy phone to play plinky-plink on. Tomorrow we switch to the treatments being twice a day instead of every six hours.

Yes, perhaps I’m irreverent, but when you spend all day with a two-year-old I think there’s an explanation.

The conception of two people living together for twenty-five years without having a cross word suggests a lack of spirit only to be admired in sheep.

–Alan Patrick Herbert

Oh no. My child won’t be ready for kindergarten! (Never mind the fact that I never went to preschool, and I did just fine.)

1. Your coworker has 8 body piercings and none are visible.
2. You make over $250,000 and still can’t afford a house.
3. You take a bus and are shocked at two people carrying on a conversation in English.
4. Your child’s 3rd grade teacher has purple hair, a nose ring, and is named Breeze.
5. You can’t remember…is pot illegal?
6. You’ve been to more than one baby shower that has two mothers and a sperm donor.
7. You have a very strong opinion about where your coffee beans are grown and can taste the difference between Sumatra and Ethiopian.
8. You also know which Brentwood restaurant serves the freshest arugula.
9. A really great parking space can move you to tears.
10. A low speed pursuit will interrupt any TV broadcast.
11. Gas cost 75 cents per gallon more than anywhere else in the U.S.
12. A man gets on the bus in full leather regalia and crotchless chaps. You don’t even notice.
13. A woman gets on the bus with live poultry. You don’t even notice.
14. Unlike back home, the guy at 8:30 am at Starbucks wearing the baseball cap and sunglasses who looks like George Clooney is George Clooney.
15. Your car insurance costs as much as your house payment.
16. The gym is packed at 3 p.m. On a work day.
17. Your hairdresser is straight, your plumber is gay, the woman who delivers your mail is into BDSM, and your Mary Kay rep is a guy in drag.
18. It’s sprinkling and there’s a report on every news station about “Storm Watch 09″.
19. You have to leave the big company meeting early because Billy Blanks himself is teaching the 4:00 Tae Bo class.
20. Your paperboy has a two-picture deal.
21. The three-hour traffic jam you just sat through wasn’t caused by a horrific nine-car freeway pileup, but by everyone slowing to rubberneck at a lost shoe lying on the shoulder.
22. The weatherman talks about the weather in other parts of the country, as if we really care.
23. You pass an elementary school and the children are all busy with their cell phones or pagers.
24. It’s sprinkling outside, so you leave for work an hour or two early to avoid all the weather-related accidents.
25. You and your dog have therapists.

Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.

–Phyllis Diller

It’s a Sisyphean task, but someone’s gotta do it.