The thing that I knew was going to be hard, and turns out I was correct, is being married to a man with children. I hesitate to even use the word step-mom because thanks to my lack of maternal desire, I see my role as supporting them in becoming non-shitty adults. I’m good for borrowing $10, an occasional ride, making their favorite desserts, cheering at sporting or concert events; but the parentiest thing I do is reminding them to do one of two chores they have around the house. The other things that make me crazy or I think are important I take up with Rich and he handles it from there. The hardest thing is when he parents so wildly different than I would and I just have to deal with it. My future is connected to how these kids continue to grow and evolve and learn to be self-sufficient and while I understand that there’s a real possibility one or both of them are living in our basement at the age of 30….I sure hope not.

Enough of that, let’s talk about something that is difficult, but so enjoyable – my adventures in garment sewing! In 2025 I went all in on quilts. And I have a stack of them to make in 2026 as well, but I decided to dabble in making a pair of pants and now here we are. I was in New York a couple months ago and I made a trip to Mood Fabrics encouraged by a recent rewatch of Project Runway. I found some kind of ridiculous pink and orange fabric that had swing-y, drape-y pants written all over them and now I’m running Sarah’s SweatShop out of the basement. A recent clothing purge also provided fabrics to work on and practice with. A linen dress I’m not going to wear again is becoming a pair of shorts. A strapless sundress recently became a cute summery top. I’ve pivoted from buying quilting fabric to some apparel fabric (with mixed results, I really need to buy that in person while I’m learning about weights and blends and such).

Other things I’m loving in this moment are mornings on the patio, often with at least one pet. Oliver, my 15 year old, best cat ever is my morning patio buddy and I’m so happy it’s warming up so we can do this for the next many months.