Better Than Before

Doctor Madden:

The memories are there,

Somewhere.

Find some pictures you can share,

Keepsakes of the life that's

There behind her.

Keep it light at first, that's best.

Careful that she's not distressed.

When the time's right,

Tell the rest...

Remind her.

You'll find her.

Dan:

So let's start with something small,

Something personal and pretty...

I bet you know these shiny things.

Diana:

They must be tacky trinkets from, I guess, Atlantic City?

Dan:

No, actu'ly Di,

They're our wedding rings.

Natalie:

It's going well.

Dan:

Here's a flower from our wedding,

You were such a sight to see

And the ceremony everything we'd hoped.

Natalie:

Um, Dad?

Dan:

Well that's how I remember it,

So that's how it'll be.

Natalie:

It was raining, it was Portaland,

You eloped.

I mean, Portland?

Dan:

It's an open book to write here,

It's a life we can restore.

We can get back what we had

And maybe more...

Maybe get us back to better

Than before.

Here's the year we drove the west,

We hit the highway in the Honda,

And I took pictures

Everywhere we went.

We saw the painted desert,

The Grand Canyon,

And Aunt Rhonda,

And Nat learned what

Her middle finger meant.

Here's the first house that we owned,

On Walton Way, we loved that place.

Then we built this one on land

That we both chose.

And here's a pic of all of us

With smiles on ev'ry face...

And the photoshopping

Hardly even shows.

Diana:

We're standing by a lake

With all theses ducks?

And who's this little chubby girl?

Dan:

That's Natalie.

Natalie:

This sucks.

Dan:

Gonna get us back to normal

Gonna get us back to good

Gonna get back what we had

And maybe more

Gonna get us back to good times,

And forget the things we should.

Gonna get us back to better than before

We can get things back to better than before.

Natalie:

All right. Fine.

Here's the headline in the paper

When you freaked out at the market.

Here's the house on Walton Way

After the fire.

Dan:

Natalie...

Natalie:

Here's the damage to the Honda

When you showed me how to park it.

Diana:

Did we crush somebody's cat beneath the tire?

Natalie:

Yes. Ours.

Here's dad at the recital,

And we're wond'ring where you are.

Diana:

I remember this

I made it to the school.

Dan:

Wait, you remember?

Diana:

It was the year of too much lithium

I hid out in the car.

Dan:

Yes!

Diana:

And your swim meet

Just last year

I'm in the pool.

Natalie: [Spoken]

So you are.

Dan:

You're getting it!

You've got it, Di!

Hooray!

Diana:

Your life has kind of sucked,

I think.

Natalie:

You got it! Yay

Hooray!

Diana:

Gonna get back what I lost there.

Gonna find out who I was.

Gonna open up the gates and let it pour.

Dan:

And if mem'ry makes things better,

Well, merm'ry always does

Gonna get us back to better than before..

Dan & Diana:

Make ev'rything much better than before.

Natalie:

Won't anything be

Better than before?

Better than before.

Diana:

I guess is must be...

Dan, Diana & Natalie:

Better than before.

Better than before...