50-something moms: They are lucky to have their other mother

(MCT) — My sons' stepmom is a wonderful woman. I could be her friend so easily if circumstances were different. Still, through the 25 years we've been blended, I've enjoyed her company when we're thrown together by special occasions like the wedding last month. People say we look alike.

After our divorce, my ex and I both remarried, to the proper persons this time. I didn't meet her for a while, but we talked on the phone, and I told her how much it meant to me that she was so good to my children. She loved them, and they knew it. It could have all been so much worse.

She's talkative, and her openness makes me feel comfortable, as if I can say anything to her. Through the years, we've thoroughly dissected my ex. That was in the early days, when, having already heard his side of the divorce story, I gave her mine. We talked like two sensible women about the puzzle that is the male animal.

She's been a beautiful blessing, so kind and generous, not just to my boys, but to me. At the wedding, she pulled my mother aside and said "I don't know why Cindy and my husband ever broke up. They're both such nice people." This from a woman who had two kids of her own with him. How's that for generous?

My mother related this to me later, and after thinking about it, I realized my children's stepmom is exactly the woman my ex deserved. She's somebody who can handle him. She has always been a strong, independent woman. I am too, but it took a divorce to make me that way.

Original 50-Something Mom's blog (www.50somethingmoms.com). Cynthia Harrison has been keeping A Writer's Diary since 2002.