I found many reasons to love second gentleman's Doug Emhoff's speech at Tuesday night's Democratic National Convention, but the tribute to his "big, beautiful blended family" resonated deeply. My parents split up when I was 12 — like Cole and Ella Emhoff, at a very formative age. Although my parents' divorce was painful at the time, being part of my own big, beautiful blended family has impacted my life positively in ways I never could have predicted.
During an election year when J.D. Vance has not only demonized childless people but lumped Vice President Kamala Harris in with that lot, I think it's important not to diminish the importance of stepparents.
Not only is divorce an incredibly common occurrence, but — as Emhoff's speech acknowledged — blended families can offer extraordinary benefits that often go unrecognized. My family started out very small: dad, mom, brother, me. But when my dad remarried when I was 20, I went from having the most classic nuclear family to being part of a massive blended family that just keeps getting bigger.
The photo above was taken at Thanksgiving about 10 years ago. That's my mom on the far left and my dad on the far right. In between is just family.
I still refer to Dee as my "stepmom" for clarity's sake, but mostly I just call her Dee. I used to refer to Dee's sons as my stepbrothers, but as our family grows bigger, I've ditched the qualifiers for the most part and call them "brothers." While we didn't grow up under the same roof, .