I know I should be over this by now, after 14 years of step-parenting. My SS23 still lives with us. It's Mother's Day and I woke up to a sink full of breakfast dishes and the sound of his truck driving off to spend the day with his BM. They ate breakfast without me and left me the dishes. This is the everyday struggle of step parenting. I have all the responsibility and none of the perks. Then I made the mistake of getting on FB with all the "Happy Mother's Day" crap. I only scrolled a few posts down before getting the slap in the face. My SS20 posting pictures of my skids with BM and raving about how wonderful she is. She left them with their dad when they were 5 & 8 because she "didn't want the responsibility of marriage and parenting". She refused to pay support, pay medical insurance, pay vehicle insurance etc. There was a day when they liked me and made me cute gifts at school. Then their mother worked her magic to turn them against me. Now they attack me as learned from her and yes, I have even had to call the police. The police told me I should leave because my home was not a safe place for me. I was convinced by my pastor to return to my husband, afterall it wasn't his fault that they can do whatever they want to me in my home. I spent my best years raising them and gave up having children of my own because of the craziness that became our lives. Now I'm sitting alone on Mother's Day, made myself breakfast, will eventually clean up after theirs and my heart longs for a child of my own that won't be turned against me. Pitiful!