It's always darkest before the dawn, or some sh*t like that ...

A future conversation I hope to have, circa 2014:

Chris: Can you believe our little girl is six years old? Wow.
Laura: I know! It's amazing. She's amazing.
Chris: We are so lucky. She's healthy, she's smart, she's so fun to be around! She is just such an incredible kid.
Laura: I know. I am really excited about her birthday party this year, too! It's been such a blast to plan it with her.
Chris: Well, we are pretty good party planners, you know. I guess she comes by it naturally.
Laura: Yeah, I guess so.
Chris: Remember her first birthday party, and how fun that was? We thought your mom and dad wouldn't be able to come, but then they did! And you made the cake, and the strawberries kind of slid down the sides ... but it was delicious anyway!
Laura: I know! That was great! And then we bought her that playhouse, and she loved it so much. Remember, she kissed the baby in the mirror? Oh, it was so funny!
Chris: That was the beginning of the "Happy Birthday Gwen" slideshow! I had no idea, way back then, that you were going to do that every year. What a crazy, er I mean dedicated mom you are!
Laura: Yeah, I love the slideshow. Maybe someday I'll even get around to finding a new song instead of using the same one over and over.
Chris: Hey, I just remembered something! After her party, all our guests left, and Gwen went down for a nap, and we cleaned everything up and got the dishwasher going, and we were just sitting down after a very exhausting morning and you decided to check your email. And ... who was it? Oh yeah! April! The daycare provider that we had lined up, had emailed you to say she could no longer provide care for Gwen!
Laura: OMG! Right, and I had like a week left before I started work again! And we were like: FUCK!
Chris: Yeah! We were so totally screwed!
Laura: Man, I had forgotten all about that. I was convinced it was karmic justice, but really, it seemed kind of unfair that Gwen should pay the price for my immaturity.
Chris: That was a very, very bad week.
Laura: Yeah. I kept thinking I should be spending my energies doing the mental and emotional work to process the fact that my daughter was going into daycare, and that I wouldn't be with her all the time. And instead I was scrambling around trying to find someone to look after her!
Chris: But then we found the perfect place, didn't we?
Laura: Yes, thank goodness, everything worked out just fine in the end. And Gwen is so adaptable - she might have had a hard time if she had a different personality, but ultimately it was a lot harder on us than on her.
Chris: Yeah, things didn't work out how we expected. But I think we handled it pretty well. And the place she ended up in was just terrific. Everything happens for a reason, I guess.
Laura: You're so right.
Chris: And wasn't that also the week that you lost 15 pounds without any effort?
Laura: Yes it was. And then you discovered that magical wallet that always had a $50 bill in it whenever you opened it!
Chris: Hey, if you're going to dream, dream big!
Laura: That's what I always say!