I have been a SM for more than 13 years, but since my DH and I dated for 4 years prior to marrying, I count it as 17 years. When we started dated, my two SS were 3 & 4, they're now 20 & 21, and both in college. They're great kids, but no one is perfect and we've certainly had our moments. As for the BM, she has always lived within 15 minutes of us, has shared custody (she had them Sun-Wed, we had them Thurs-Sat, every week unless we were traveling), and has always been in our life. She still is.
So I guess I'm looking to this blog to share the MANY, MANY stories - horrible and wonderful - about both my SS and the BM. Hope I can give some advice, as well. You don't make it this far in the game without learning a few things!
Here's one for the books - We moved my oldest SS from college back to his mom's (he was dealing with some personal issues). With in 4 days - FOUR DAYS - she was calling my DH asking him to pay her rent for my SS to live there. It's her son! He needs her help and support, and she's asking for rent???? BTW - she han not contributed one dime to either of the boy's college, so after us paying for all his liveing expenses and tuition for three years, she has the nerve to ask us for rent.
Needless to say, we laughed at her request.