[notfarnow]

I'll offer a different perspective.

My parents split up when I was 6, and my father moved out of town so I only saw him every month or two. A couple later year my mom started dating Bill... a really nice guy, and they eventually married.

Bill walked a fine line between being a parent and being a friend to me and my two brothers. Not easy times; he had never been a parent and all of a sudden he had 3 boys. I think it was really hard on him when we were teenagers. We got into trouble and I think he felt we didn't accept him. Heck, we were teenagers; we didn't accept anyone older than 20. We were harder on our father.

Mom & Bill split when I was 18, but I feel I owe a lot to him for those 10 years. Poor guy got the worst years... missed us when we were young and cute, and missed the later years when we grew up to be pretty decent guys. He is a good man and I think he rubbed off on us. I still keep in touch with him.