I have to admit, some days my life feels like a Jerry Springer show. Being a step-mom can have its challenges, but the blessings win out--hands down, every time. As far back as I can remember, I've wanted a house full of kids. (I told you I'm an old fashioned girl.) So, you can understand why the day that my son was born was the best day of my life. He has grown into this amazing teenager who teaches me new things every single day.But, it just wasn't in the cards for me to have any more kids... in the traditional way. Then these little people came into my life, via a complicated adult-relationship structure. In society's terms, they are step-grandchildren. To them, I'm "Mimi." So, I get to start over with some young minds rediscovering names of flowers, bugs and letters, as if for the first time. Riding along in the car, we'll go over a bump in the road they reel with unbridled laughter. We do, too, just remembering what that felt like. At that moment, the stress of the week rolls off, and we leave it in a pile at the side of the road. I don't try to be their Mom. That's not my job. I don't try to act like a Grandma. (I'm only in my 40s!) I just love them. Everybody needs that.
I was thinking about Mother's Day, today--and all those women who don't have children, for whatever reasons. I know many of them who feel left out, guilty or judged on this greeting card holiday. But I also know that they love, nurture and shepherd other people and creatures in a way that would make this world a much harsher, scarier place without that love. And that's what motherhood is all about. It's not about giving birth.
