"All my years as a single woman were spent telling people who were married that marriage is simply a piece of paper and that a piece of paper cannot help bind a person to you or prevent them from cheating on you or breaking your heart..." #marriage #love ponderingnook.substack.com/p/marriage-is-…

Find the original article at The Pondering Nook on Substack...Link in bio!

"...I became resentful of never getting asked if I needed help. But at the same time, I never asked for help..." ponderingnook.substack.com/p/becoming-a-s… #stepparenting #selflove

"I immediately wanted to know the story behind this couple and the cold-as-ice exterior of the female companion continued to intrigue me." #people #stories medium.com/heart-affairs/…

"If we measure our happiness by the number of apologies we get from people who have distressed us somehow, the road toward personal contentment will be much longer than we might like..." #life #lessons #apologies michelleponders.medium.com/why-letting-go…

How involved are you with your stepchild's schooling or extracurricular activities? In this unlocked episode from The Pondering Stepmom Podcast archives, I find out from stepmoms exactly how involved or NOT involved they are and why. open.substack.com/pub/ponderingn…

“No one wants to hang around a huge bummer of a human, especially when we’re using every last ounce of energy we have to remain upbeat in a situation where rejection and disappointment abound.” — TheWife link.medium.com/WYWlFlXBHMb #relationships #dating

"I don’t need to be called mom to caress a forehead sweating with a fever. I don’t need to be called mom to pack a lunch for school. I don’t need to be called mom to know instinctively when something is wrong..." #stepmoms #love ponderingnook.substack.com/p/you-dont-hav…

"...But I did it anyway. And thus began my journey into adulthood — the hard way. I experienced love, lust, excitement —..." ponderingnook.substack.com/p/my-first-mar…

Do you have any stepmom friends? What is that experience like? Free subscribers to The Pondering Nook at Substack will enjoy this unlocked episode from the archives of The Pondering Stepmom Podcast on this topic! Thank you for subscribing xoxo #stepmoms ponderingnook.substack.com/p/what-about-y…

"All of the amazing testimonials I had read in articles and blogs over the years about women who defied all their fears and let it all hang out in their bathing suits finally penetrated through." #women #self #bodyimage ponderingnook.substack.com/p/i-almost-let…

"Outside of stories like Cinderella and Snow White, I had no concept of what a functioning, real-world stepmom would look like until I met my friend’s stepmother..." #stepmoms #identity ponderingnook.substack.com/p/3-words-ever…

"It’s difficult to look back on the unfortunate missteps of our youth and wonder what we were thinking — or if we were even thinking at all." #lifelessons medium.com/heart-affairs/…

In this episode of The Pondering Stepmom Podcast exclusively for paid subscribers, I talk about how much I appreciate the honesty of my stepmom followers about just how hard the adjustment to becoming a stepmom is! Also, I have an announcement! #stepmoms ponderingnook.substack.com/p/lets-talk-ab…

'I really wish you had not used the word "grieving". The loss of a sports event is not something to grieve over.' open.substack.com/pub/ponderingn…

"When we mother a child or children who we have taken into our lives as stepchildren, we are showing the world that raising children — even if they aren’t biologically ours — matters." #stepparenting #motherhoodjourney ponderingnook.substack.com/p/how-my-daugh…

"Knowing you have to let your child go into the jungle of adolescence and young adulthood without you clearing the way for them is terrifying in a way that makes that word seem trite." #daughters #parenting #motherhood ponderingnook.substack.com/p/i-miss-my-da…

"...what is it exactly about teenagers that gets adults so freaked out?" #teens #parents #life michelleponders.medium.com/what-teenagers…

"A stepmom represents a new beginning, a different beginning. This is not always welcome for those who cannot accept that things have changed." #stepmoms #assumptions #parenting ponderingnook.substack.com/p/3-assumption…