Wait for them to come to you. The advice came from my dear friend Jennifer, who has a stepfamily of her own and understands that it takes time and patience to blend and bond. I was nervous. Scared, in fact, of two girls, ages 8 and David and I both grew up in Northridge, both completed graduate and undergraduate degrees at UCLA, had friends in common from college and recently discovered that my cousin was his childhood music teacher.
It was a long wait β we are both in our mids β but well worth it. David is my Dream Man. I had wanted a partner, but one with kids? My dating profile indicated that I was open to it, but the gesture was theoretical.
I had never dated anyone with children, and I never wanted my own. Are you a veteran of L. We want to publish your story. As we inched along the Freeway, my anxiety increased. He gave me tennis lessons and I dragged him to yoga class.
We went to Club 33 at Disneyland and he treated me to couples massages and pool time at the Four Seasons spa. But my favorite thing was always cuddling on the couch and talking. I was starting to wonder what our relationship would look like when it became a story for four, instead of two. We decided to wait six months before my first meeting with his girls: a trip to the arcade at Castle Park in Sherman Oaks. I could hardly stand keeping my distance.
Like a puppy dog, I wanted to cuddle up to them and play, but I remembered her advice not to overwhelm them, so I pretended like this was all no big deal, and tried to find the feline inside. More L. Affairs columns. Instead, I find hundreds of articles about how to advance and evolve, take steps forward. For me, however, progress has come only with a practice of restraint: Relax like a cat and take a step back.
