This is my stepdad.

My mom remarried him after I was an adult, and already moved out on my own.

He has never known me at a time to “parent” me, necessarily. He wasn’t there when I hit a milestone like riding a bike. He didn’t watch me as I left to go to a school dance, or see me graduate high school.

But you know what?

He’s still my stepdad. And he’s also papaw to my babies. A special bond that we do get to share, is one through my children.

They do not know a life without him. He’s gotten to watch them walk and talk, start school, and play their first sports.

My stepdad may not have gotten to play the role of “dad” in my life growing up, but he sure shows up in my life now that he is in it. The biggest way he does this is as “papaw”, and it is tenfold what I even knew we needed, or could have ever asked for.