Part One: The Epiphany

Source of image: Pinterest

I was that blessing to every parent everywhere: the obedient child. I did as I was told. I never questioned authority. I dutifully respected my elders. I spoke when invited to speak and I kept my mouth firmly shut the rest of the time. I went to bed when I was sent to bed – hours before I was ready – without so much as a murmur of protest. I could enter a room without making so much as a wave.

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Step-Parent

When I was giving birth, the last thing I could ever have envisaged was sharing my children with another woman. Not in the cards. Not going to happen. Until, of course, it did. I hated not being a full-time mother to my children. I resented the full-time, never-divorced mothers who would say to me “Well it must be great to get a regular break from your kids like that.” Although words like that always felt like a slap in the face, I remained politely mute, but I wanted to cry my eyes out.