Huffington Post this morning……Why Does My Husband’s Ex-Wife Hate Me.

You’ll be comforted, it’s mostly about her, not about you. Well, #4 is about you, #11 is about you. The rest of the reasons are about her ability to process her own life.

Rather than celebrate in our minds and give a sigh of relief, I urge us all to keep doing the work of processing our own lives. Stepmothers are no better-than or worse-than mothers, each woman is in flux no matter what her role. It’s clear the ability any one of us has to process events and make peace within our hearts will be what determines our contentment with our lives.

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Sneak Preview: A new support group is coming to Portland, Oregon!

I was approached by a counselor and attorney, Shari R. Gregory, about co-leading a support group for stepmothers. We’ve developed an 8-week curriculum that begins January 8, 2013. We’ll be interviewing women over the next two months to make sure the group will fit their needs. The flyer is posted on the Support Group: Portland tab, but I’m including it here also.

Shari will be the perfect co-leader for the group. I hesitated to offer a group on my own, but with her master’s in social work, her experiences as an attorney, and her 10 years as a stepmother, she’s got wonderful perspectives all her own. She had me at, “I’ve been following your blog for a year” and how much she has used the thoughts share there and then she asked me to co-facilitate a group.

I’m very thrilled with this opportunity to continue the dialogue about self-soothing, perspectives, and finding our place. We are committed to creating a welcoming, non-judgmental, and trusting environment for each woman to explore her deepest concerns. It’s my hope that each woman find the freedom to share herself in the world with integrity and ease despite the difficulties inherent in the stepmother experience.