Letter to the step mom

Letter to step mom asking for cooperation

Dear Jill,
Although we have never spent any time together I believe that you and I COULD become friendly, if not friends.

First off; let me again express my gratitude to you for guiding my children into adulthood. I honestly believe that without your influence they would not have achieved so much. I can't thank you enough for loving them. Sincere, heartfelt THANKS!

Now I need to address some issues that I feel we, yes, you and I TOGETHER, need to come to terms with.

The number one thing that Wanda told me you said about me that really hurt my feelings was, "anybody can spit out four kids". I have serious issues with that statement because it is a falsehood number one; because the children are mine, they are NOT your flesh and blood. Yes, you were there for them the past 7 years or so, but that doesn't make them your children. It makes the children your family, people you love and people you are partially responsible for, still they will always be 50% of my genetic code and no matter how much you love them you can't replace me. You can't change their genetic make-up and as much as I believe you wish you could erase all traces of me from them, you can't. I suggest that you come to terms with this and try to comprehend the special bond of mother and child which I have observed to remain intact even when a child is separated from their biological mother from birth.
Allow me to give you an example from my own life. You may not know this about me but I was adopted. I had a burning desire to find my biological family, my roots, at a very young age. To that end I began adoption research at the age of 15. I spent countless hours scouring records of "Chattle" (yes, sickening that Arizona used a livestock sales column to post adoption announcements) helping so many other people in the Az Search Triad, but never successfully locating my own announcement.
After Charlene was born I became obsessed really with locating my birth mother, and after much research I finally found her.
What she experienced the day I called her for the first time clearly demonstrates the connection between mother and child that remans unbroken through time.

My birth mother, June, (Wanda June is named after both Chuck's mother and my birth mother) is the type of woman who's only idle time is when she is asleep. She never really stops doing. The day I first called her was one of the rare moments in her life where she simply paused, by the telephone no less, in certain anticipation of a call from a daughter she had never met. Call it a psychic connection, a twinned cell, or, as I believe, a blood bond, she knew the baby she placed for adoption was going to call her that day and she was ready.

Jill I am not telling you this to make a comparison between the love our children have for mother or step mother. I trying desperately to explain that EVERYONE in this family will be far better off with more love rather than more pain. I would never force my children to choose between you and I, not for fear of the outcome, but because it is simply UNNECESSARY for them to make any such choice.

Now Jill, my children are almost all adults and I realize that they can decide never to speak to me again. How do you think they will feel when they have their own children and become aware of the deception and mean-spirited tactics that have pushed me away since the moment you became an important part of their lives? Do you believe that they will overlook the awful things you and Robin have said about me over the years?

I am betting adulthood will open their eyes to just how mean you have been to me. I HONESTLY Hope they don't become so angry with you for the accusations, the not telling them I called, wrote, or flew 1200 miles to see them only to be threatened by you with trespass charges if I didn't leave. Jill, as deeply as you have hurt me, I don't wish this pain upon you.

I think of ALL of you everyday and while sometimes I am filled with pain, which ultimately leads to anger, for the most part I think of you fondly. I imagine you teaching Wanda to read music, encouraging Daniel to pursue drama, and holding the grandchildren I will never hold, with the love and adoration they clearly deserve. I imagine the pain you feel, as I once felt, being ignored intimately by a man who was sadly taught that sexual intercourse was something women despised, and that showing affection or being publicly affectionate was inappropriate even for man and wife. I imagine you crying alone realizing they will soon be gone and that even though you are married to a great guy, you will soon be very lonely.

Jill, I will always welcome any positive relationship with you. I would be able to overcome the painful past if you would simply reach out in sincere friendship to me. We have much in common, my kids have told me this time and again. I was told by Daniel that I left hurtful messages on your answering machine for you. I honestly do not recall trying to be hurtful towards you; yet I know that when I am in pain I can be very mean. I know this sounds like I am making excuses, I am not. There is no excuse if I hurt you; and if I did I am truly sorry. Please find it in your heart to forgive me.

Jill, please, I am begging you to start to TRY to add me to your life.

Whatever your choice, I wish you well.

Sincerely,
Leah

Author's Note

I would love feedback

Reviews

[SpeedyHobbit Armstrong]

This was a very powerful piece. Even though Leah is apologizing, I can definitely see a degree of resentment shining through the words because she's jealous that Jill, not her, has seen her children all of that time. Nonetheless, the effort to reach out seems genuine. It's a profound move on her part to tell Jill about being adopted and how much she yearned to know the identity of her biological mother

The story of Leah's adoption was powerful as well.

I imagine the reply is going to be very interesting if it exists at all...

[Mikayla_Stagg]

This is nice. Honest. I like it.