A Step Toward Healing

My dad got remarried to the woman he’d cheated on my mom with. I was cold toward her whenever we saw each other. A year later, my dad was taking me to the airport, and my stepmom took off work to meet us there. She hugged me and told me that she was proud of me, and when she stepped back, I saw that her eyes were filled with tears.

She was genuinely emotional, and for the first time, I saw her not as the woman who broke my family, but as someone who was trying to build a new one with me in it. I felt a lump in my throat, and before I could stop myself, I hugged her again—this time, I meant it. As I walked toward the gate, I turned back and saw her smiling through her tears, waving at me alongside my dad. Maybe things weren’t perfect, but in that moment, I knew we’d taken a step toward healing.