I may not be her biological father, but I hope that one day she’ll see me as her dad. Her mother shares her address with me, her food with me, and her bed with me, but she still firmly refers to Angie as “my daughter.” She still refers to herself as a “single parent” and […]
I have a father and a stepfather, and love them both dearly. But growing up, I always felt sad, guilty, and pulled in two directions on Father’s Day. The other night, as I left the room he shares with his younger brother, I heard the voice of my 5-year-old creep over that of my husband, […]
If parenting is hard, step-parenting is water torture. In 1986, my husband—well, he wasn’t my husband yet—won the county spelling bee. I lost. His blue eyes and stellar spelling skills captivated me. We were 11. Later that year, I would write in my “Garfield” diary, Joni Edelman, Mrs. Joni Edelman, J. Edelman, 373 times—but who’s […]
For those of us lucky enough to have the engaged kind, the ever-present kind, sometimes the step-parent label, so wrapped in stereotype and qualification, doesn’t quite fit. I am turning 27 next week and my Facebook feed is predictably overflowing with engagement rings, bridal white, and blurry sonograms. While some friends prepare to take on […]
