for some reason i woke up thinking about that episode of hey arnold where helga's mom takes over the beeper company
absolutely tragic story where the usually miserable and totally disconnected miriam pataki gains confidence, motivation, and happiness. but she gets too absorbed into her new career (for like, a week?) and forgets to make a few school lunches, so she decides she has to leave it forever and goes back to being miserable.
typical 90's bummer of a family vs career trope. but especially awful because for half of this episode, everyone is happier. you get to see an ideal, functional version of this broken family. too bad - all must reset to the status quo.
i don't think it hit like this when i was 10.