with four of them, and I have three from my first marriage, which ended in divorce. There have been a few bumps along the way, but it's been mostly incredibly smooth, and my wife and I often talk about just how lucky we are.

I really have to give props to my wife and to my ex. My wife initiated things by inviting my ex to join us for Christmas morning back in 2015, our first year together, and we've done it ever since. When my wife first brought up the idea, I was a little dubious and asked if she was sure. She said that her kids would give anything to have both their parents with them on Christmas, and though she couldn't provide that for her kids, she could make it happen for mine. What an amazing woman.

That was the start, and now we also get together for Sunday summer hikes and super hero movies, and two years ago we all got family pictures together. Of course I look like a polygamist. And my ex has been awesome too, completely drama free. In fact, she drives my stepson to and from school four days a week.

Being a step dad, married to a widow, is interesting. My wife warned me when we were dating that her kids would want me to be there for them but then resent me for being there instead of their dad. I get that. I know it's hard for them at times, but they don't show it. They've never taken it out on me.

Just last week, my 22-year-old stepdaughter said that sometimes it bugs her that I'm such a great guy (her words) because she wants to hate me for being where her dad should be, but she can't. When she got married, she asked me to walk her down the aisle and give her away at the altar. I asked how she wanted me to respond when the minister asked who was giving her away. She told me to say her father, not stepfather. I was overcome then, and I'm getting a little choked up now thinking about it.

Now that stepdaughter and her husband have given my wife and me our first grandchild, who turned two months old yesterday. I've never been a baby person, but I am now. It's amazing.

I have a daughter and a stepdaughter who are both 21 and live with us, and they are now best friends. They can sometimes get on each other's nerves, but that's rare, and they do the goofiest, most random kind acts for each other. When either one of them needs help, she goes first to her stepsister.

Yesterday that stepdaughter planned a date for tonight with my 11-year-old son to take him to a trampoline place, which shows how they get along. But she got called into work for an emergency, so seeing my son disappointed, my wife planned a movie date with him for tomorrow night.

There is a lot going on in our house (three kids live here full time and one half time), and it can be hard keeping track of everything, and it can get expensive, but there is a lot of love in our house. So it has been so worth it to me. I have more people to love and love me back. My life has never been better.

If karma is real, I must have done something pretty freaking fantastic in a prior life to deserve what I have now.