Living In Relative Denial

I went home to visit my dad and stepmom. I’m from my dad’s first marriage, and my dad and stepmom- his third marriage- also have two kids together, though there’s a pretty big age gap between us.

Sister #1: “Who are you texting?”

Me: “My sister. I’m going to go visit her next month.”

Sister #1: “Is it far?”

Me: “Yes, I have to get on an airplane to visit her and her husband.”

Sister #2: “I wanna come!”

Me: “Maybe one day you can! She wants to meet you guys in person. It would be fun to have a good portion of my sisters together.”

Stepmom: “ALL of your sisters are right here.”

Me: “No, they’re not.”

Stepmom: “YES, they ARE. You only have TWO sisters, these two.”

Me: “I actually have four sisters and two brothers, which you know full well.”

Stepmom: “They’re not your sisters! They’re just your mother’s daughters and her husband’s children. You don’t have any brothers.”

Me: “Then I guess these two are just my father’s children, which would make me an only child. Fun, I’ve never been one before.”

Stepmom: *Slams pot onto stove and screams.* “THEY ARE NOT YOUR SISTERS!”

Dad: “[Stepmom], you need to calm down. You know [My Name] has a very blended family. Her mother and I were idiot teenagers when she was born, and we both got remarried and had more kids. She has a ton of family. She and [his former stepson] even still call each other brother and sister, just like I still call him my son.”

Stepmom: “NO. Her ONLY sisters are these two right here.”

Me: “That’s not how that works… at all. You and I aren’t related, you just married my father. If you want me to claim my half-siblings as my siblings, then I claim ALL of them, not just the ones you provided. I have six brothers and sisters, including my stepbrothers and stepsisters.”

My stepmom looked angry, but dropped it. 

A few weeks later, I posted pictures online of the mini-reunion I had with two sisters and a brother, and got a lot of confused comments from her family. Apparently, she’d told most of them I was an only child before her kids were born. I had to publicly set the record straight, which caused a lot of friction in [Stepmother’s] world for a while. I still can’t grasp her logic, but at least she now admits I have more siblings than just her children.