I never thought a simple text message could hurt so deeply. When my stepchildren’s mom, Melanie, told me I wasn’t welcome at their birthday party, I was taken aback. “You don’t have kids,” she said. What she didn’t know was just how much those kids meant to me and how hard I had worked to be there for them.
From the first time I met Noah and Liam when they were only five years old, I stepped into their lives fully—bedtime stories, soccer practice, helping with school projects. I was there for the small moments and big ones, like when Noah needed stitches or when Liam had nightmares. I was the one they turned to, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
But it wasn’t always easy. Melanie and I were civil, but she often saw me as just a background character in their lives. I never pushed for the boys to call me “Mom,” though sometimes they slipped and did anyway. It made my heart full, even if I tried not to show it.