#blended-family

#blended-family

There are still moments I pinch myself: when, over the remnants of turkey and red wine, my divorced parents regale us all with an in-joke from their previous life. When, on the pre-lunch walk, my dad and stepdad stroll in lockstep and talk about finance and even feelings, occasionally. When we've all exchanged gifts, and the most thoughtful gifts are not between husband and wife or parent and child, but ones the divorced and remarried couples have given each other.

The punishment doesn't fit the crime. Banishment is too extreme. However, it's worth looking at what's happening outside of the frame. First, the word disrespectful was tossed around a lot. Is it possible that your daughter-in-law felt you were criticizing her parenting in an unwarranted way? This isn't to say that the kids should have been punching their uncle. It wouldn't have been my choice. But Uncle Rick also has bodily autonomy and may have chosen not to stop them because he didn't mind.

You shouldn't have to convince your husband to follow through on your dream vacation. He should have consulted you before inviting your son and telling him he will be included in everything. You wrote that you scrimped and saved for years to afford this vacation. How does he intend to pay for all those extra expenses for a third person?

Ben wants to have a child with me, but after dealing with his kids when he has custody of them-it's a 50/50 split-I have realized that I do not want to do this. The girls are undisciplined tornadoes, and he delegates most of their care to me. They are only with us half the time, and I am wiped out! I cannot imagine dealing with a baby while trying to care for Wilma and Cathy if Ben is going to be such an absentee father.

I stay with my mom during the week and split weekends between her and my dad. From all appearances, my parents get along well. Sometimes my mom will even join all of us for dinner, and she's occasionally watched my siblings for my dad and Inez. I'm super close with my mom. I get along great with Inez, and respect her as my stepmother, but I don't really share personal information with her.

"It was always like, 'Whatever you're into and when you want to have sex, you just let me know and we'll get birth control,'" she said. "It was really healthy, and it made me feel like I was allowed to discover my sexuality on my own, which I think is such a gift," Johnson added.

We both knew there was something special between us. We spoke the language of grief, of solo parents, of young widows who'd lost their forever person to cancer.