A Stepmother’s Thoughtful Gift Bridges A Gap

STORYTELLING | by SHERRY STRIPLING

IT’S DIFFICULT TO STEP IN AS THE NEW WIFE in a family where the mother has died, even when the children are by then adults. The route for one woman in Washington State was through the kitchen.

Adrianna knew she was marrying a man who was extremely close to his six children. When the children’s mother died, each of the older teenage children was assigned responsibility for one of the three in grade school, keeping the family tight for years.

Years later, when she married their dad, Adrianna knew she wanted to gently establish herself as part of the family while making it clear she did not mean to push aside the mother’s place in their hearts. The opportunity came shortly before Christmas, when a longtime neighbor mentioned that she still had a recipe she’d been given by the children’s mother.

“I’d like to have that for the kids,” Adrianna told her.

On Christmas morning, Adrianna passed out six wrapped loaves of Orange Slice Cake with the offer to pass on the recipe to anyone who wanted it.

“I just thought it would be nice for them to taste it again.”

But the gift did much more. The familiar smell and taste seemed to acknowledge the nurturer who was missing and the one who was now there to help.

“It was a wonderful gesture,” the oldest daughter would later say. “It was as if she was saying, ‘I’m not here to take your mother’s place but to honor what she meant to you. And here’s her favorite cake to prove it to you.’ ”