stepmom. stepmommag.com

This is sage advice I received from my friend Ruth over a cider-slash-venting session years ago. She had been a stepmom before it was even cool. I didn’t know her then, she was 19, he was 30 and suddenly she had two small girls for whom to take care. She hung in there for 18 years of marriage and watched herself and those kids grow up.

When most little girls dream about meeting Mr. Right, they don’t factor an ex-wife and child support payments into the picture.  But this “picture” is reality for an estimated 20 million American women who find true love with men who have children. The good news is that society has come a long way in accepting non-traditional families.  The bad news is that stepfamilies are still a mystery and lar