On Friday I forgot my lunch at home. Barbara guessed that might have happened and knew that I probably would not buy myself anything to eat, so she called me at work to see what I had for lunch. When I told her I had a few baby carrots, she offered to bring some food to my office for me and eat lunch with me in the cafeteria. And that meant that Audrey would be coming also.

 

Barbara and Audrey showed up about 10 minutes past 2:00. I had let some of my coworkers know that Barbara and Audrey were coming in, since some of them were not in the office on Saturday and Monday when we brought Audrey in. Shortly after Barbara and I started eating, with Audrey in her carrier on the table beside us, Ginger and Nikki came down to visit. While we were eating, Ginger and Nikki took turns holding Audrey. This was Nikki’s first time of seeing Audrey, but it was Ginger’s third time holding her. However, Audrey was pretty much completely asleep and quiet for the first two times. This time she was awake and actually made some noise. I was glad that Ginger finally got to see Audrey’s eyes for more than a second at a time and got to hear some little noises.

 

Ginger and Nikki had to get back to work, but Barb, who had also not met Audrey previously, came down to the cafeteria. Barb held her for quite a while, and, again, Audrey was very calm and well-behaved. Again, it was nice to visit and to show off our precious little girl. And it was nice to talk to everyone. We don’t generally get to hear about people’s families. So it was nice to hear people talk about the births of their children, about raising them, and about what they are doing now. I have not taken the opportunity to try to get to know my coworkers this way in the past. Maybe they would not have shared so much anyway. But I am glad for the opportunity, and I am glad that sharing the details of our life with Audrey could allow me to get to know my coworkers better and allow them to know me as someone other than a tightly-wound, detail-oriented, __________. (I don’t know how they would fill in that blank, but maybe they would change that description altogether after seeing me with my wife and my daughter.)

 

Once Barb went back to work, it was just the three of us again. We finished our lunch, and I gave Audrey a bottle. It was getting late, and I needed to get back to work. But I did not want to go; I just wanted to grab my things and head home with Barbara and Audrey. Barbara jokingly suggested that I could take Audrey up to my desk in her carrier and just let her sleep under my desk until the end of the day. But Audrey and Barbara left, and I went back to work for a few more hours and looked forward to going home to be with my two wonderful ladies.