Everything Else Can Wait

My youngest arranges all the nail polish bottles on the kitchen table and asks me to paint her toenails.

Seriously?  I can think of 20 more important and urgent things to do instead of painting her toenails.  I do not have time for this. 

But I look at that little face and those little, little toes.  

In even just a few years, she won't ask for this.  One day, she'll paint her own toes, in her own bedroom, in her own house even.  Maybe it's because another school year starts this week, or maybe it's because I can see how tall she's grown by the markings on the kitchen wall.  Whatever the reason, I suddenly can't imagine anything more important or more urgent than those little toes. 

So here I am, painting little toenails silver and neon pink.  Everything else can wait.

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Journal:  What aspects of parenting annoy most folks now that they end up missing once their children are grown?