1.5 - Mom talk

Kerry is slowly getting accustomed to her new job. While the work itself is not the most exciting, her boss is clearly pleased with her and she loves to hear his praise and encouragement. She enters his office with a stack of papers.
"Mr. Henry? Here are the invitations you wanted me to print."
"Ah, excellent job!", he says without looking at the papers. "You're really doing a great job. Might have to offer you a permanent place if you keep that up, hm? Here, take these letters, put them in envelopes, adress labels and stamps on it and off they go! And bring me a coffee!"

It's lunch break, everyone's favourite time of the work day. Everyone's but Kerry's.
She sits at the table with the other women to not give the impression that she's isolating herself but none of her co-workers are real friendship material. They love gossiping and talking others down so they can feel better about their own miserable lives.

The Angelista ladies might just be the worst and Kerry prefers to avoid smalltalk with them. But that's not always possible at the lunch table.
"So, Kerry, how old is your little one?", Tiara, the younger woman, asks.
"She'll have her first birthday soon."
"I remember when my son was this age. He was so far ahead in his development, he already formed short sentences!"
Kerry smiles weakly. "You must have a very clever son, then."

That must have been a keyword for all the super moms in the room to start chattering about their kids' accomplishments. At least it shifts the attention away from Kerry while everyone is trying to one-up each other.

"It's so important to encourage them early to develop their skills!" - "Oh, you should absolutely put your baby in a language class, they learn so quickly at that age! Mine is already learning Chinese and French." - "Have I told you that Dylan started playing piano at age 2? He's having his first public performance soon!"

Kerry sighs. Well, Ruby can go through ten diapers per day, that's pretty impressive too, isn't it?
Eventually one of the women notices that Kerry isn't participating in the bragging contest and turns her attention back to her. "Why do you even work with a baby that young? I think moms should definitely stay at home at that age. Does the father not earn enough?"

Kerry wishes she could shoot death-rays from her eyes. "I like to be financially independent..." She ignores the part about Ruby's father. She's pretty sure they already know she's a single mom and are just trying to humiliate her by forcing her into admitting that she's not with the father.

After lunch break she is tasked with organizing some mails. Important mails are redirected to important people, simple customer requests get standardized replies, and a whole lot of spam and ads land in the paper bin, usually unread.
But there is one particular ad that catches her interest while she is trying to bring order into this mess: It's from a website called ancestry.sim.
Discover your family history through genealogy and historical collections -- Browse and create family trees -- Find living relatives...

She looks around her. Nobody is watching her right now, so she allows herself to get lost in her fantasies for a while...

She never knew her father, maybe she could find him this way? Siblings or half-siblings or cousins she doesn't even know exist? What about grandparents, does she have any? Or, crazy thought, what if her mother just adopted her and her real mom is actually waiting somewhere out there, ready to give her all the love she needs? A girl can dream, right?

She quickly closes the tab and goes back to sorting mails as she sees Mr. Henry approaching her again.

"Ms. Harris? I hate to ask you once again but would it be possible for you to stay overtime today? You know, we are all very busy preparing the anniversary party additionally to the usual work, so we need everyone to give their best."
Kerry sighs internally. If she's doing overtime that means her babysitter will also have to. "I will call my babysitter and ask her if she can stay longer tonight."
"Good. There's a lot of work to be done."
"I'm sure I can arrange something."

Before he leaves the room he stops briefly and turns back to Kerry.
"Oh, and of course I expect to see you at the anniversary too", he smiles.
Kerry knows that this won't be the kind of party she usually enjoys but if there's drinks and dancing it can't be too bad.

***

But first there is another anniversary to celebrate: Ruby's first birthday!  

The guest list is short: Ramona and her son Derik. Her mutt Pinky, who she adopted only days after watching Dogs in Prison, accompanies them.

Pinky charges right into the living room but stops dead in his tracks when landlord Richie greets him with a menacing hiss and puffed up fur.

"Hi Kerry, hope you don't mind I brought Pinky along, he doesn't like to stay home alone!", Ramona says at the door.

"No, I don't mind. I'm not so sure about Richie's opinion though."

"So where's the birthday child?", Ramona asks.

"In the living room, playing with her toy box. Come in!"

Ramona puts her son down in the living room so the kids can play and the moms can to talk.
"I'm worried if Ruby is developing fast enough...", Kerry begins. "I heard the other moms talking at work... It seems like everyone else's baby is the next Stephen Hawking but Ruby hasn't done much more than crying, laughing and pooping in her first year. She can say mama, cat and no and walks a few steps while holding on to furniture but-"

"I found Ruby! Now I hide!", Derik yells.
Derik is older than Ruby. Ruby still needs help playing hide and seek.

Ramona interrupts her friend. "Those moms are lying half the time and exaggerating the other half. Ruby is doing perfectly fine for her age! You really shouldn't put too much pressure on her or yourself."

You hide now, I count! TEN. Uhh... FIVE!

"Yeah, you're right", Kerry admits. "My job stresses me out a bit. My co-workers are annoying, the tasks are simple and boring, my boss is constantly looking over my shoulder and I work overtime so often that it starts to feel like my regular working hours."

Kerry sighs. She really needs to relax.
"Well, lets get to the important part then, shall we?", Ramona suggests when the kids start losing interest in their game. Their attention spans aren't long enough for drawn out birthday parties yet.
"Of course! Who wants some cake?", Kerry asks, then picks up her daughter to help her cheering. Happy birthday!
The first year went by faster than Kerry had expected. Her baby is now an active toddler.