Looking back with Lot's Wife

When You’re Not Cinderella Anymore If statistics are correct, slightly over half of the married people reading this article either will be or presently are step-parents, the heads of blended families. The biggest part of carrying this burden often falls on the stepmother—partly because everybody know you blame everything that happens at home on mom and partly because she’s most often there and available. Women are usually more than willing to accept the blame and kids instinctively know this. It’s as natural as playing in the mud in your Sunday clothes. So what are some of the most common complaints about being a stepmother besides having to spend extra time in the evening poisoning tomorrow’s apples and trying to pick up kids at school while at the same time staying on your broom? Virginia, step-mother of five and blended mom of eight, unequivocally states that “rudeness is the number one problem of being a stepparent.” Claudia, blended mom of ten, agrees with her wholeheartedly. Davi...

My Heroes Have Not Always Been Cowboys One of the most humiliating experiences of my last few years has been that I’ve started to like county music. This is snobbish, but when I was growing up, the only person in our house who listened to The Grand Old Opry was the maid. I never DREAMED that I would marry someone who listened to county music—let alone consider having children with him. And then on our honeymoon, my husband said, “Oh, look, honey, it’s five! Let’s listen to Hee Haw!” I assumed at first that he was joking and then when I realized that he wasn’t, I went in the bathroom and tried to figure out what I’d do. Was it too late for an annulment? Yes, it was. There was nothing that could be done. People marry people all the time and are surprised by what they don’t know. Those women on Donahue who marry guys who have eight other wives in other states and you can’t imagine how they got that way. That’s exactly how I felt. Completely stunned. No-it-could-never-happen-to-me stunned....