Today is National Stepfamily Day! Did you even know there was such a thing?? My son, Andrew, and I actually moved to Pittsburgh from Arizona to begin our lives with my now husband and his daughter right around this date, nine years ago. We declared it our Family Anniversary back in 2007!
I so vividly remember when the two of us arrived at our new home in the wee hours of the morning in 2007. The air was crisp–so different than the Arizona air I was used to, my body was purely exhausted from our drive across the country, yet I was still excited, a little nervous, and just anxious for everything to go smoothly and comfortably for my son. We decided to unload our car in the morning and just grabbed essentials in order to crawl into bed.
When I went into the bathroom to get ready for bed, I noticed that this man I had moved across the country to begin our life together with, had added two more toothbrushes to the holder that previously only held two–one for him and one for his daughter. It was the simplest of gestures and honestly not something he even recalls doing, but for me?? Seeing those 4 toothbrushes brought tears to my eyes. That memory is seared into my mind. We each went from our own families of two, to one family of four that day.
Typically, we try to celebrate our Family Anniversary in some small way each year. We’ve gone to a local township festival a couple times, we’ve gone out for ice cream or supper together. Something simple, but together. We believe in celebrating even the small stuff! Blending a family isn’t easy, so we make sure to celebrate each other often. This year, we will celebrate our Family Anniversary watching our two oldest children, who made us a blended family, perform together for the first time at our high school’s marching band festival. (The 7th grade band members perform on the field with the marching band.) My heart is swelling with pride already!
My 12 and a half year old stepdaughter, a new middle schooler, has a class where they just began a unit about families. The students were asked to define what a family is to them.
With her permission to share, my stepdaughter defines family in this way : “Family is people who care about and for you, and who love you. Your family would do anything for you, no matter what. They do what you need, and sometimes they don’t have to be blood related in order to be family. For example, my stepmom isn’t related to me, but she’s my family, and more a mother to me than anyone else. She takes care of me, and loves me and she cares about me, and I love and care for her too, so she’s my family.”
How do you define family?
Happy National Stepfamily Day from our blended family!
