Remember that phrase, a picture is worth a thousand words? Well, when one mom posted a family photo in a Facebook group, that’s exactly how powerful the picture became. Recently, Karisa Smith submitted her post to Love What Matters, a popular Facebook page that celebrates “love in all forms,” as a way to tell her story. The response she got was unbelievable.
Smith shared a photo of her husband and daughter hugging–and it received 93k likes, 6,700 shares, and 1.8k comments later. Why did it garner so much attention? Well, in the post, she explains that her husband is a stepfather to her daughter, but that label isn’t applicable to them–because he just IS her dad, regardless of blood.
And I simply can’t agree more:
“They aren’t related by blood, but they are daddy and daughter… My husband goes above and beyond to take care of her as his own,” she continued. “When she cries, he’s there. When she needs him, he’s there. We don’t use the term ‘step father.’ He is her father. When he fell in love with me, he fell in love with my daughter. He took on a 9 month old and she is now soon to be 3 years old. And is the ultimate daddy’s girl. They are two peas in a pod and the love of a father runs deep. So deep, he has decided to adopt her and the adoption is in process.”
While her post may seem like common sense to some, Smith really struck a nerve with families who have stepchildren and stepparents as part of their structure. While this is a common family dynamic, it’s not often written about and explored so openly, and the fact that Smith is trying to break the stereotype that a non-biological parent must love a child less than a biological parent is awesome. Because families are all different and often aren’t just made up of people you’re related to biologically–love can happen anywhere.
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