My Stepdad.

So, in the last forty-eight hours I've been thinking about my stepdad. In the beggining I didn't reaally like the idea of him getting "hitched" to my mom. I hated it. Not that I hated him, infact I thought he was a really cool guy, but I just didn't like the idea of mom marrying him.

I'd always thought of Rich as being an "un-official member" of the family. That was cool and all, that is until he married my mom. I hated the idea of another man in mom's life. I guess, looking back at it, that I was scared to get close to another man in my mothers life. I was scared that if I did I would only get hurt. I saw so many guys come and go from my mother's life and I was tired of it. I was so tired of it, that I made sure that I wasn't at the wedding. Now, I kind of wish I was.

As time went on I came across the quote that reads: "If you hold back because you're afraid of getting hurt, you wind up getting hurt anyway." I thought about this long and hard. It was so true, especially when it came to relationships. So, I started thinking differently. I began to pick out the good things and leave the rest out. I started to see how Mom and Harley felt about Rich. I could see that he meant a lot to Mom. Grams and Gramps seemed to like him. They actually thought it was nice having him around. Once I saw things from a different light, things seemed to fall in place.

It was just a little over two weeks, when Rich took Mom, Harley, Andy and myself to dinner in honor of Mom's birthday. It was then that I started to think about Rich in a totally different light. Andy had asked who was paying for dinner. I started to say "Dad." and then quickly changed it to "Rich." That Monday, at family home evening, I made the comment about what had happened that night. I also mentioned the thing about Rich. It was then when Mom relayed this information to me: "Rich doesn't mind if you call him 'Dad'." I was in stupor for but a moment. That statement started a long string of mental thoughts that somewhat made sense.

I'd seen what he's done for me. Card's and chocolate at Valentine's Day. The work he put into finding the right birthday presents. Talking to me about Ford Mustangs and how he would help me find an Old School Mustang that we could re-fabricate. And asking a friend of his to DJ at my 18th birthday party and even paying for it. Some say that he may be trying to buy his way into my good list, but to me he really cares. Come to think of it he does.

I realized that Rich really did care about me and my brothers. That he tried to show it in what he said and did. It just dawned on me all at once. I really have changed my attitude about Rich. And attitude really does make the difference. I'm proud to call Rich my stepdad and maybe someday I'll be proud call him my dad. In the mean time I thank him so much for all he has done for me. Thank so much, Rich. You're awsome!