In the middle of drafting some email correspondence today, our daughter asked me to get something for her. I asked her, as I usually do, to wait until I finished the task in front of me. She was patient, as usual. I told her that I was writing to somebody I used to work with.

I told her that I’d like to work again soon.

“Not the work I do at home, but work that I could do for others, at the computer or away, to earn money. What do you think of that?”

“I think you should,” she said, with a serious look on her face.

“You do? Why is that?”

“It’s good to earn money for things we need. And I know what you need to do.”

“Really? What?” (She floors me, this girl, on a regular basis.)

“You just need to get a babysitter, to watch us while you’re busy, or away.” She named a couple of our babysitters as possibilities. “Daddy won’t be able to do it, because he’s away, too. So a babysitter will help.”

She’s a problem-solver. She makes everything seem so easy.

And then everything is.