“Cinderella , Cinderella”

What if Cinderella’s stepmother wasn’t always mean and evil?

What if at one point she actually loved Cinderella and treated her like one of her own ?

But then one day decided to turn the tables & estrange her?

Then you’d have my story.

I grew up in a blended family , not quite the Brady brunch , but I’d like to say we tried . Or atleast I know I did. Tried to hide the all too familiar stench of not belonging , never quite fitting in; while everyone around you claims it’s “just you” . My dad married my version of the evil stepmother when she was very young . I would love to say she knew what she was marrying into , but maybe she didn’t . You see before they made two he already had three and she one; altogether we made four. I’ll admit , a lot for a 22 year old to process , but , hadn’t anyone told her that when you marry a man you marry his children too? Four became six as she birthed for my father a son and a daughter. And life happened quickly. I loved all my brothers and sisters and I would like to say , in their own different ways , they loved me too. All was well , well, as far as blended happily ever afters go. I grew very fond of my stepmother never seeing her as anything other than just my mom , even foregoing a real relationship with my biological mother to keep up the farce of the one I had with her. I looked to her as role model , mentor and someone I would one day like to be. Things weren’t always sunshine and rainbows , but I learned how to keep the rain at bay . I made myself more like-able , tried to be more like her , more wanted . And it worked. Or so I thought . Her and my dad have always had a loveless marriage from what I saw, but I needed them together so that she would still want me around. But by the time I turned 16 , as her and my dad’s relationship strained , I could see our bond disspating and I feared the worst; I hate when I’m right. She always said that no matter what her and my dad would go through , that I was still her child ; a promise she just couldn’t keep. I think at the time she married for security and not for love and in the end she began to resent us all ( not her children, of course.) We became reminders of a choice she wishes she hadn’t made. At the age of 24 I no longer speak to my stepmother or my “evil” stepsisters (for movie connection purposes only), and though it breaks me , I’ve learn to deal with the brokenness . Any attempt at reconciliation has been met with a cold and closed heart ; forgiveness does not beget readmittance. But once and a while I think about them and I wonder why I wasn’t enough . I wonder why blood has to be thicker than water ; why can’t there be exceptions ? Most days I wish that she was evil and mean in the beginning. You know what , I think Cinderella was lucky , atleast she knew what she was getting from the start .

-Taj👑