When you hear the word stepmother, what adjective springs to mind? Wicked, right? I blame Cinderella, but Walt Disney had a big role too, influencing generations of children. Oh sure, Snow White had a stepmother, but she’s more thought of as the Evil Queen or Witch than as a stepmother.
I had trouble coming to grips with the idea that by marrying a man with children, I was suddenly a Stepmother. Every time the word was said, I could hear the unspoken “wicked” hovering above the conversation. I could also see that flicker of doubt in the eyes of children each time I was introduced as a stepmother.
The transformation to the Wicker Stepmother started as a joke, a bad pun. I joked that I wasn’t wicked, but wicker, because I was a basket case. After all, becoming overnight mom to four troubled children was quite a challenge. It ran me ragged, especially at first.
The more I thought about it, the more wicker fit as my adjective of choice. Wicker is extensively used for outdoor furniture in the south. It looks light and airy, but it is surprisingly strong. It survives rain and wind and just gets more beautiful as it weathers. Though each strand may be slender, woven together they can support heavy weight and stand up to impacts like being jumped on.
Wicker is a versatile material, going way beyond baskets. It is woven into chairs and tables, bottle covers, lamp bases, bookcases, and more, even beach shelters. So as a Wicker Stepmother, I decided I could fill a lot of roles. I could carry them, support them, nurture them, teach them, and shelter them. So I embraced my new role, as the Wicker Stepmother.
c. 4/23/11, B. Riley