He's a loaner, but he qualifies

My step-son is visiting us for the summer. He lives thousands of miles away, so we don't get to see him often. He'll be 11 at the end of the summer.

There are tons of reasons why I'm happy he's here, but one in particular I never get to talk about, 'cuz it's kinda personal. But I can blog about it...

When you're in your late 30's and don't have kids, people actually ask "but why"?, as though they had a right to know. When you're younger, folks give you the benefit of the doubt that you'll get cracking on that project eventually. But at my age, they figure you've been slacking and should explain yourself.

Well, for starters, my story is pretty complicated. I usually just cheerfully say "ah well... it wasn't in the stars for me." If they persist with their interrogation, I'll give them the old "Well, I lost 3 babies that took 6 years to conceive and thought maybe I should stop now that I don't have any more money or the heart to go through that again."

That usually does the trick.

But having Step-Son with me puts an end to this. I can just point to him and say, "See? Got one right here."

And then I pass the test.

Besides all that, he's a hoot to have around. And now that I've received my free Pop-Tart coupons, I'm the coolest step-mom in the world, 'cuz we'll be eating Pop-Tarts for dinner and all.