Because Without the Bitter, Baby...

...the sweet ain't as sweet.

That's right, I just quoted Vanilla Sky. Even though I am probably the only person I know in this world that liked that movie. Yet much of my philosophy of life does originate from my guru, Cameron Crowe. The fact that such a phrase is uttered in a sci-fi fable about cryogenics means nothing to me.

Because it's true.

Today was a day that I've been dreading on two fronts.

1) With budget cuts looming above all of our heads, I have known that lay-offs are possible for anyone. Today, in my room, stood one of my very favorite "anyones", still reeling from possibilities laid out to him. It left me dazed and broken-hearted.

and

B) Two of my dear friends (who happen to dearly love one another) had a baby. Dread, you ask? How so? Because the odds have been overwhelmingly stacked against them. Because all the research I did about their situation made me want to crawl into a hole. Because I hate to see anyone I love so pained and worried. Because to wish for mere survival doesn't seem like a big enough wish, yet you are terrified to ask for more.

But when you are dealt the bitter, sometimes the sweet will follow. This is the cruelty of the Universe's balance scale; it rarely ever lifts you to the stars or leaves you flailing on the ground. Its conflict is its essence. Before either of us had time to dry our eyes, a message arrived.

Three pounds, fifteen ounces of stable, breathing sweetness to sit upon the other side of that scale.

The shadow of goodbye shouldn't travel with such a fragile light of hello. But hello anyway, darling boy. Welcome to the world.