Different Kinds of Life Part 2

It had been a month since Kimberly filed for divorce from Will, she and her children Charlotte, Samuel, and Anna spent several days in hotel after hotel. One night later, she then takes the kids and herself to the one person she least expect to go to: her mother, Katherine. They had not spoken to each other in the last couple of years. Briefly staying in the house was going to back bring type of memories for her, which she had lived in from the ages of twelve to eighteen. For those six years, she felt like she was second best to her mother when it came to her older sister Maria. Sitting in her old bedroom for the first time since she had moved, Kimberly realized that not much had changed and felt very upset about her situation. Because her room does not enough space and Maria's old room is a little more larger, Charlotte and Anna would be in Maria's room. Samuel would be in the guest room which is next to her grandmother's room and across from the bathroom. Within the years since she had left, the blue painted walls of Kimberly's room was fading including the spot where she had her nickname "Kimmy" painted in red. Even there were cobwebs in the corner and small cracks in the wall. She cleaned most of the room and then she turned around, seeing a picture of Maria smiling during her fourth grade spelling bee and Kimberly by her side both smiling.

The next morning, Kimberly helped her kids prepared for school and toasted waffles for them. Katherine was watching from the entrance of the kitchen and looked upset and walked back to her room. With Charlotte walking Samuel and Anna to school, Kimberly stayed while eating her breakfast. Katherine came back and sat at the table across from Kimberly, still looking distraught.

"Mom, what's wrong?" Kimberly asked her mother concerned about why she was upset.

"I was afraid that this was going to happen." Katherine replied to Kimberly. She figured that since Kimberly and Will were having problems, their marriage was going to dissolve. She also saw how Kimberly's divorce is similar to her own previous marriage. Katherine was married to Harry and they had Maria and Kimberly together. She and Harry would have small arguments almost every week. But one in particular was Katherine wanting to go to work at a hospital as a nurse. He disagreed and she was not happy with him putting down the idea. After that he had left and they divorced, when Maria was seventh and Kimberly was six. Katherine eventually went to work as a nurse and hired babysitters in between time to watch Maria and Kimberly. The way she saw Kimberly with the kids, helping them with their homework, going to parent teacher conference meetings and maintaining work as a artist has Katherine thinking about that she could have done more with Kimberly. She had spent her time focusing on Maria's successes in high school and her aspirations. As much as she loves her sister, Kimberly felt like she was stuck in her shadow and could not live up to Katherine's expectations. While Maria usually received A's on her report cards and test, Kimberly would receive some decent grades but felt it was not good enough for Katherine.

All Kimberly ever wanted to be was a artist. She started to do some paintings in third grade along with hand drawn pictures. However, Katherine had never really showed Kimberly to the encouragement, instead directing her attention to Maria. She even thought Will was not the ideal person for Kimberly but she figured right because of Will drunkenly calling her names right in front of Katherine one time. That drove the both of them upset and Will drove off in the middle of the night, not returning until the morning. Katherine always thought about how she was with her two daughters.