Author's Notes: Teeny tiny spoilers for the episode "Goodbye, Toby".
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Coffee Cups
I.
Pam received a design your own mug kit for Christmas when she was four. She sat quietly at the kitchen table, busily using her markers to draw a picture for her design a mug. She had shown a love for art even at such a young age. She was a focused little artist, her curly brown hair pulled out of the way in a ponytail. When Pam was drawing, art was her everything, and all other things always faded into the background. Today the mug sits in the Halpert's kitchen cupboard, Pam's husband Jim refusing to part with it.
II.
Jim has a coffee cup from a coffee shop that he worked at the summer when he was sixteen. Jim would have been playing basketball and baseball with his friends, but his father was dying and his family would need the money after it happened. Working at the coffee shop was a mixed bag: the people there were really great, but Jim hated that his father would soon be dead. The cup is shoved in the corner of the cupboard. Jim doesn't want to toss it, but he can't stand to go back to that part of his life.
III.
Sometime during her first week at Dunder Mifflin, Michael gave Pam a mug that said "Hottest Receptionist". It was hideous, with its hot pink background and bright orange writing. Roy, however, found it to be funny, so she'd kept it (but never used it). When she called off the wedding, it sat in her apartment in a box, and for the longest time, Pam forgot about the ugly mug from Michael. When she and Jim moved into their house just after they'd gotten married, Jim insisted on keeping it so they would have something to remember the office by.
VI.
Pam's mom bought her a Pratt Institute mug as a gift upon hearing that Pam would be going to school there. Joanna Beesly had been so proud of her daughter : she had applied to the Pratt School of Design and been accepted. Joanna was incredibly happy for her little girl - she was finally chasing after her dreams. Joanna knew that Pam had always wanted to be an artist , that it had been the career of her dreams ever since she was a young girl. Now that dream would become a reality. Pam's horizon was so bright.
V.
Kelly gave Jim and Pam an unusual wedding gift. It was a coffee mug that you could put a picture in. There was a note that read: Dear Jim and Pam, congratulations on getting married. Well, Darryl and I got you this gift so that when you guys have babies you can get a picture taken of all of you and then put it in the mug. It'll be totally awesome! Luv, Kelly and Darryl. Jim and Pam followed Kelly's orders. The mug has a picture of the Halpert family: Jim and Pam with their children, Lucy and Mathew.