“It’s just not normal!”
“It’s very unconventional!”
“That’s just flat-out weird!”

Those are some of the responses I receive when I let people know that my youngest daughter went with her step-siblings and their Mom. Sometimes for the day. Sometimes overnight. She loves being with them. They love being with her. To her, it’s more entertaining to hang with them than to sit at her real dad’s crusty apartment. And it’s more interesting than being stuck at home with her obnoxious little brother.

Who’s to judge? Really?

Who’s to say what’s normal? Or conventional? Or weird?

Good for us, we embrace our eccentricities.

It is. What it is.

And I think our children are all the better from it.

“How can you allow that?”

“How can you let her go with them?”

“What is wrong with you?”

I allow it because it makes my children feel a complete sense of family. Especially when extended family dynamics aren’t optimal to begin with. To my children, my husband’s ex-wife is like having a wonderful aunt. She treats them with love and respect. And I know that she isn’t going to let anything happen to my children. Just like she knows and expects the same from me with her children.

OK, so maybe it’s not what would be considered normal. Or conventional.

But to us, it’s not weird.

And there is nothing wrong with me for allowing this.

My children. All 5 of them. Don’t know any different.

To my children from a blended family, it’s not normal.

It’s certainly not conventional.

AND most assuredly, it IS weird, to not get along with all the ex-spouses. Or hang with them for a day or overnight.
And to my children, from a blended family…WE are the way it’s supposed to be. And the way it really should be.
Everyone finding a way to get along.
Everyone finding their place in this family.
For the kids.
Always. It’s for the children.
To know that it’s OK. That they can love everyone.
Biological, step. It doesn’t matter.
With no one ever holding it against them.

That is why we do what we do.
And THAT…is. What it is.

Photo credit: Pink Sherbet on Flickr