Growing up I lived with my dad and my step mother. She raised me as her own from the time I was six years old. I still had contact with my mother but I didn’t get to see her much. I called my step mother “Mom” and when I was 20 her and my dad divorced.

I am 28 now and pregnant with my first. My step mother (ex- step mother) and I have remained close over the years. Unfortunately, she tends to get jealous when it goes to my other family. I have my dad and his new wife, my mom and step father, my husband’s parents and her and her new fiancé. Needless to say, holidays and family events are a nightmare for me. We live in town with my husband’s family but all of my family live 2 hours plus from me (and my biological mom’s family two states away).

My step mom always includes my husband and I in family functions but a lot of them take place in LA and that’s a 5 hour drive for me. I now rarely attend family functions with her side of the family and she gets very upset because her family is all very close. And she gets jealous when I attend events with other family but not hers. The difference is distance. Plain and simple. Part 2 in next post...