I've been with my SO for 4 years. He has two daughters and I have two boys. The girls are 17 and 11. My boys are 15 and 7. Let me tell you, the sunny, perfect, wonderful life that I had planned with my SO when I first met and fell in love with him is FAR from reality. I guess I should have known. Unfortunately, no one warned me that being a SM was the absolute worst job in the entire world. I thought that since I loved him with everything in me, that I would naturally come to love them the same way. I was certain that I would eventually love them the way that I love my boys. Wow!