My name is Isabel. I'm 21, my dad, Jack, is 38, and my stepmom, Charlotte, is 37. For those of you who did the math, you'll notice that my dad is only 17 years older than me. Needless to say, I was a little bit of a surprise.

I don't know much about my real mom. Her name is Maria, and my dad met her in high school. She was as straight laced as you could get. Straight A's, honors student, part of every club you could think of, top of her class – the whole nine yards. My dad? He skipped class, was part of a gang at one point, had been arrested and did drugs. Can anybody say opposites attract? Somehow they ended up together. They started dating during their sophomore year, and right before their junior year, Maria announced she was pregnant.

My dad was actually excited. He saw it as an opportunity to clean up his act and start putting his life back on track. Maria was a different story. She wanted to keep the pregnancy a secret and have an abortion. That's right. My own mother wanted to kill me. My dad begged her not to do it. He said he would take full custody of me, pay whatever her insurance wouldn't cover and she didn't have to do anything after she had me. Obviously since I'm here writing this, she accepted the offer. They had all the legal paperwork drawn up, and she signed over her parental rights.

When it came time to have me my dad was there the whole time. He was so happy when I was born. Every picture I've seen of him holding me shows him crying. Maria? He had to convince her to hold me long enough for one picture. After we were discharged from the hospital, I went home with my dad, and Maria took off. She went to school and went on to be a success, but I've never seen her. Her parents are still an active part of my life, and they love me no matter what.

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