Story 1:

junior year of high school, my dad got remarried to the woman he’d cheated on my mom with several years prior.

As an angsty teenager, I was none too thrilled with his new marriage and was honestly pretty cold towards her whenever we saw each other.

A year later, my dad was taking me to the airport on my way to college, and my stepmom took off work to meet us there and send me off with a care package.

She hugged me and told me that she was proud of me, and when she stepped back, I saw that she had tears in her eyes.

It was at that moment that I realized that she wasn’t a bad person, even if she (and my dad) had done some bad things in the past.

Our relationship improved dramatically after that, and now she’s like a second mother to me. © OldSaintNickCage / Reddit

Story 2: 

When I was 8 years old, my mom got married for the second time. I was very hostile toward my stepfather. He was a nice man, but the very thought of him taking Dad’s place drove me crazy. Mom was torn between us.
It wasn’t until I was 10 when everything changed. It happened when he came to school to defend me from the teacher. I started ignoring him less often and agreed to go for walks together a couple of times.

That same year, on his birthday, I made him a present for the first time: I gave him an envelope with a card where I wrote, “Will you adopt me?” It was the first time I saw a grown man crying while tucked into the shoulder of a little girl. A month later, he became my dad, and after that my daddy. © Not everyone will understand / VK

Story 3: 

I have always told my children, “Just because I’m not your father doesn’t make you any less my children.” I was never able to have offspring of my own, but my grandpa grew up in an orphanage. He always said the best part of a family has nothing to do with blood. © BB64 / Reddit

Story 4: 

Story 5: 

I wasn’t thrilled when my mom remarried and my stepdad moved in. He tried to connect with me, but I stayed distant. That year, I’d been saving up to buy tickets to a big game my friends and I wanted to go to, but they sold out before I could get them. I was crushed and assumed no one in the house cared. Then, the day before the game, my stepdad handed me an envelope. Inside were the game tickets I’d been dreaming of. He told me he’d seen how hard I’d worked to save up and wanted to help. I realized then he’d been paying attention all along, even when I’d been ignoring him. I finally saw he cared about me in a way I hadn’t let myself believe.

Story 6: 

Story 7:

Story 8: 

I am a stepmother, and the child turns only to me with all his problems. It’s sad. I’m teaching his dad to talk to him too.
On the other hand, I understand that it’s easier for me: I can see the situation from the outside, and have less responsibility, so it’s easier to find a common language when you are not responsible for the child 24/7. But it’s still sad. © Overheard / Ideer

Story 9: 

When I became a stepmom to Lila, she kept her distance. She’d always hide little mementos of her mom, like a locket she always wore. One day, she came home from school in tears, saying she’d lost it. I could see how much it meant to her, so I spent the whole evening retracing her steps, asking around, trying to find it. Finally, I found the locket under the bleachers near the school gym. I think finding it changed her mind, just a little. Since then, she’s let me in more, seeing me as someone who cares, too.

Story 10: 

All my life, I dreamed of having a twin sister. When I was 14, my parents divorced and my father married a woman with a daughter my age. My stepmother bought me and her daughter the same clothes. The funny thing is that we also had the same names.
One day we went to the beauty parlor with her and the stylist asked, “Are they twins? What’s their names?” The stepmother says our name. The stylist, “Why do they have the same name?” And my stepmother calmly says, “So we don’t get confused.” © Overheard / Ideer

Story 11:

Story 12:

A friend of mine is from a wealthy family. A guy twice her age, a widower with children, started courting her. She laughed, calling him a penniless old man. But one day he came to her with his 3 little children. She saw the little ones and something clicked in her heart.

Because of those children, she agreed to marry him. And she gave birth to 3 more. She supported her husband, he started his own business and became successful. She raised those kids as her own, they adore her. And her husband adores her. © Overheard / Ideer

Story 13: