Evil, home wrecking step-monkey

So, yesterday I had the opportunity to pick my step-daughter up directly from school. Usually during the week her mother picks her up and then I have to meet up with them to bring her home with me. But yesterday, I happily had a little extra time and so I arranged to pick up the little monkey right from school.

It was lovely. She came out of the kindergarten door with her notices and her newsletters, her drawings and her coat all piled in her arms and she handed them off to me as the other children did to their mothers and nannies and she ran out to the playground where we had agreed she had time to play before heading home.

I watched her as she looked around for her friends and was delighted to see her happily playing hide and seek with a little boy, as though she was a totally well-adjusted and completely satisfied little kid.

And then she ran over to me where I was watching, holding all of her stuff, like many of the other parents and she requested just a little more time to play -- so we agreed and as she was about to run off she encountered a woman whom she clearly knew and although I was not close enough to participate in the conversation, I was close enough to hear this:

Little Monkey: That's my step-mom (pointing over to me)
Me: waving and smiling at the woman I do not know
Lady: waves and smiles back
Little Monkey: My Daddy broke up with my Mommy and now he's married to her and so she's my step-mom.
Lady: smiles awkwardly at Little Monkey, nodding
Me: standing stunned, as usual, not knowing what to say
Little Monkey: (walking over to me) I think I'm ready to go home now.

The good news? She wasn't in tears about the whole thing like she was a few weeks ago, when she told the same story to a complete stranger in a restaurant her mother took her to.

The moral of my story? Just when you're starting to feel like a normal human being, kids have a fantastic way of making you feel like an embarrassed heap of dirt. On the up side, Little Monkey is now referring to me in public as her step-mom and I feel like that is progress. Now that she's a little older (about five and a half) and has a basic understanding of our relationship it makes me feel a little more...I don't know, defined. Now if only Disney would come out with a movie where the step-mother isn't evil...