When your family breaks apart, you think of it as losing a piece of you, even if that piece wants nothing to do with you. The word divorce has such negative connotations associated with it, but it is not always the end. Alternating your home every weekend, being tossed around from house to house on holidays, and having a parent who is jealous that the other gets to spend more time with you now, even though they had their chances to spend time with you prior to the split, is not my opinion of the ideal childhood. Yes, some divorces are heartbreaking, but some signal for new doors to be opened.
When a parent starts dating again after a divorce, it seems a bit strange. As the children, you have gotten used to it being you and that one parent, but now they are throwing another person into the mix. However, if the person your parent is with truly makes them happy, you are all for the relationship. If you watch movies, the stepparent is always portrayed as evil and having no desire for you to be happy, but they are usually the total opposite. Being blessed with a stepparent is uncomparable to anything in the world.
To have someone come into your life and love you as their own and as if you have always belonged is magical. They did not get to see your first steps, they did not get to hear your first words, but they will be there for everything that they can as soon as they come into your life.
