No one thinks you have it easy, to be sure. Not with the late nights and early mornings, with the screaming and the diapers. Not with the potty training and the tantrums. Not with managing work and young children, getting sick all the time, not knowing when it will get easier.

And yet, as crazy as it is to think, so many people would gladly trade places with you. In a recent interview, the comedian and actor Bob Odenkirk was asked by Mike Birbiglia if there was anyone he was jealous of. His answer? “Anybody who’s still got little kids at home, growing up. Yeah, there’s no question. I knew what I was doing when I had kids growing up. I was being a dad…I understood my purpose.”

Beautiful, and so achingly, achingly true. It might not feel that way right now, but it is true. You are lucky to be in the shit right now. You are lucky to get to do this. Lucky compared to, as we’ve said before, all the people who cannot have children, the people who have lost children, and the people who have watched their children grow out of this phase. You have what they are mourning. You have what they lost.

Don’t forget it. Don’t rush through it. Don’t let it wear you down…but remember what it is. An experience that doesn’t last forever, that not everyone gets, that you will—as all parents do, when they finally get some rest and find themselves in the next phase—miss profoundly.

P.S. All time with our children is quality time, as we’ve said before. We created the Tempus Fugit medallion (Tempus Fugit translates to “Time Flies” in Latin) as a powerful reminder that we don’t need to rush through any of their childhood to get to the good stuff. Instead, we can let go and learn to appreciate the moment for what it is.

Grab your medallion at the Daily Dad store today!