This morning, I read a string on the internet of people talking about the emotional weight that women carry in families. One of the examples I read was wives sending Mother’s Day cards to their mothers-in-law for their husbands to help carry their relationship. Some were kind of sad, but I have a good story.

When I was a kid, my half-brothers used to visit for the summer. They primarily lived and went to school in California with their dad. They would fly up to visit after school let out. Their homecomings often coincided my birthday. Along with their arrival would usually be a thoughtful gift for my birthday. Later as a young adult, I was down in California visiting them and I saw their stepmom. She said, “Hey your birthday is coming up.” I then realized that for the years she had been married to their Dad, she was the one that was remembering and shopping for me. She was like an aunt I never knew I had. Although I never sent her a thank you note, or even acknowledged that she existed, she helped bond me to my brothers. As adult siblings, we don’t get each other gifts often now, but we do call each other on our birthdays every year and she helped make that happen. Thank you, Susan.