The definition of Stepmother is “a woman that your father marries after his marriage to or relationship with your mother has ended.” Ouch! I’ve been “that woman” aka Stepmother for the past 13 years. Let me tell you, it can be one of the most challenging jobs there is. It is harder than motherhood in a lot of ways. A lot of little girls grow up saying I can’t wait to be a Mom. Nobody grows up saying, I can’t wait …
Last year I shared this with my son who was learning about César Chávez in school. He brought it to his class to ‘share.’ He was so proud to know his grandmother (who he sadly never met) had walked with César Chávez with me in tow. From helping a neighbor who was ill to hosting picnics for Odyssey House (a drug rehab home in Newark, NJ) to a 23 year letter writing campaign to the Soviet government in the name of …
When I walked in the house today for just a moment I forgot… and then the sad reality that you were gone hit me hard. After 13 plus years of you greeting me with not just a tail wag but a whole butt wag as if to say “Mommy, you are home… finally, I’ve been waiting and waiting!” would be no more. In 1998 when I reluctantly moved to Los Angeles from NYC one of the things that sweetened a …
Remember the days when you and your husband dated? The butterflies in your stomach as you heard his car pull into the driveway, the electricity that flowed when hands touched, or agonizing over what to wear to that all-important dinner out? With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching it’s a reminder for some of us to perhaps pay a bit more attention to our other halves. A reminder that’s much needed sometimes. Let’s face it: once you’re married or in a long-term …
My husband and I spent a lot of time together the week of Christmas. But that time was spent on a road trip with 2 kids. We would get a couple of words into a conversation and then hear “Mom, mom, mom, mommmomomomomom?? …Dad?” So when the grandparents offered to take our boys for a few days we didn’t have to think about it. “Where will we eat?” was the first question we asked each other. We went to dinner …
Red cup season is now over. Sniff, sniff. I am an admitted coffee addict, and I love a good cup of Starbucks. Judge me (or not), but it’s what I like. I especially like the simple change of seasons displayed in their stores. It’s not grandiose, it’s not in your face, it’s not religious. It’s just nice. Red cup season means the return of pumpkin spice drinks (so tasty!) as well as other delectable beverages to suit various taste buds. …
I’m second guessing myself big-time this week. So much so, that it’s giving me anxiety. All my life I have been told to do the right thing, and although I feel as if I did make the right choice in an action that I did I’m still second guessing myself. Back in September I saw someone that I know fairly well cheating on their spouse with someone they are not married to. It shocked me seeing it. Although this person …
I have heard a lot of people complain about Valentine’s Day this week. It seems most of my married-with-kids friends hadn’t even made any plans with their spouses this week, and a lot of them have excuses like it’s such a pressure situation, this whole Valentine’s Day thing. Who needs it? Well, I do! I love my husband, but lately he hasn’t been the most romantic guy in the world, you know what I mean? When we first met he …
Long ago, in a distant life I was single, sometimes even on Valentines Day. I know, shocking! I tried not to let it get me down. I always had lots of great friends to go out with on Valentines Day to distract me from the ridiculously over reaching necessity for romance that day. We’d go to dinner and hit the bars in search of Mr. Right. It was a night just like that that I met my husband, playing pool …
I love my husband, but I can not in good faith call us happily married. Most days annoyingly married, frustratedly married, even tiresomely married, would be a better description. We do not walk around beaming at one another all day. When we get to take a vacation with our friends we’re happy to get away. What I mean to say is I have lived with my husband for a solid 13 years and it’s rough, not easy. Living with anyone no …
