While I’ve never been a “real” dad, I’ve been a “foster” dad for many years to many boys, and now an “adoptive” dad to my son Richard. Sometimes it’s easy to think we are less than “real” dads.

Several years ago, after reading my foster sons an out-of-print children's book (My New Sister, The Bully), I realized from the book's punch line something I'd never clearly thought about… That was the catalyst for this poem.

Feeling alone in Today’s Half/Step World? Here’s someone who can relate.

Do you know history’s most famous “stepson”?

History’s Most Famous Stepfather

by Rich Clingman (April 11, 1996; revised 06/11/01)

Can a man’s love be completely true

When he knows he’s not the one

Who gave life to his wife’s child?

This wasn’t his “real” son.

He had planned to marry a virgin bride.

His plans had been undone.

She was pregnant, and not with his child.

This wasn't his “real” son.

The man would teach him to read and write,

To work and play and run.

But he wasn’t the boy’s "real" dad,

This wasn’t his “real” son.

A “stepfather” is what he’d always be

Once the boy’s life had begun,

But he chose to love him as his own.

Jesus wasn’t Joseph’s son.