Being on Maternity Leave

I'm coming up on Month 9 of my maternity leave and although I'm enjoying my time with my little boy, I can't help but start counting down the clock until I return to work on January 4, 2010.

There's something about being distant from my coworkers that leaves me with pangs of jealously. I think of it this way: those folks I worked with day in and day out, even though they aren't officially family, actually are, since, when you think about it, we spend more time together than we do with our spouses. So, to be on maternity leave, and not get any news of how they're doing, what they're up to, how their kids/husbands/girlfriends are doing, leaves me jealous of those that know what's going on.

And I'm not talking gossip. I despise gossip, especially when there's enough office politics to go around already. No, I'm talking hard news.

Case#1: I left on my maternity leave Nov/Dec 2008. By June, my coworker tells me via Facebook she's getting married in November. When I left, she was single, and when she told me she was getting married, I didn't even know she had been dating anyone.

Case#2: I just found out one of them is pregnant again. She just returned to work 3 months ago. When I go back, she might be leaving....or already gone. Again, I don't know details. The person who told me thought I already knew. Nope.

Case#3:The one coworker who sits beside me and spends a bit of time chatting with me is apparently having a lunch thrown for him this month. You'd think he'd told me what's up with that. Again, no word directly from the horse's mouth...same said person in Case #2 tells me this news too, as if I knew what she was talking about. I've since asked for clarification from both of them. No reply, yet, of course.

So, as I'm living the isolated life on this side of the fence, my coworkers world continues to revolve without me. I wonder if I'll even recognize them when I return. I sure won't recognize the lives their leading now.