This is a question I never really considered until a few years ago when I became a stepmother. Before my first Mother's Day as a blended family, I really started to wonder what my "new" role as stepmom would feel like on that day.

My husband's youngest daughter had proudly opened up her backpack one day after school to show me the smushed construction paper craft she had made in her kindergarten classroom for her mom. As I praised her for her good work and told her how much I thought her mom would love it, I could almost see the thought flash across her eyes as she realized in that moment that she didn't make one for me.

Her smile shifted, and she quickly offered to make me one, too. She thought hard and suggested that maybe she and her teacher could talk about making a second one the next day. She worried, though, that there wouldn't be enough supplies left. I kneeled down to her level and gave her a giant hug. I told her the craft should really go to her mom on Mother's Day.