This blending shit is not for the faint of heart, folks. Remember being a kid and imagining the kind of person you were going to marry? I do. At 6 years old, I proclaimed proudly that I was going to marry a man named Ken (or maybe it was Kevin) and we were going to […]
One of the best things about a second marriage is that you go in with your eyes wide open. “I don’t believe in ‘OK,’ ‘decent,’ or ‘solid’ marriages. I’m against them. I believe only in great marriages, and that you should expect and reach for no less.” – M. Gary Neuman (licensed psychotherapist, rabbi, and author) […]
Children often have no say in who comes into their life, but are expected to acquiesce to new structures and automatically give equal respect to the new addition to the household; a stranger. My mother and stepmother couldn’t be less alike. My mother is practical, pragmatic, and sturdy. She needed to be. She had two […]
No one prepares you for the onslaught of emotion that is tied to joining a family already in progress. My husband looked over at me, as I sat casually in the passenger seat. Our family of five cruised along to our new Friday night ritual—family date night—and said wistfully, “You know he realllllly loves you. […]
This originally appeared on Arielle Silver’s blog. Republished here with permission. I tuck her in at night. I help her with homework, band aids, and boys. She tells me her dreams. She is my oldest daughter, but I am not her mother. It’s a good name, “middle” school. They’re not quite who they used to […]
