Boy finds letter stepmom wrote him the day she married his dad. She had saved it for his 18th birthday.

A bond doesn't have to be biological to be meaningful; it's built on the love and effort invested in it. One Reddit user, u/ThrowRAdeimater25, shared a touching tribute to his stepmother, expressing how close he was to her—so much so that he called her "mother." The post came after he found a letter she wrote when he was six, meant for his 18-year-old self. Moved by the letter, written twelve years earlier, he felt compelled to share it with others.

He shared that his biological mother passed away while giving birth to him, and his father met his stepmother when he was 3 years old. “They got married months after my sixth birthday and they have had four more kids. My mother always treated me like her own and never let me feel like an outsider or 'half-sibling.' I was always her son and big brother to all my siblings,” he remarked. Sharing the core memory he got to experience on his 18th birthday, the boy mentioned that his mother left him a letter on his pillow. “I opened it, and it was a letter my mother had written to my 18-year-old self the day before she married my father,” he mentioned. 

The letter, written twelve years earlier, was filled with heartfelt hopes and wishes for the 6-year-old boy. She promised to help him honor his biological mother’s memory, respect her, and never try to replace her. She added that she would be as best a mother figure as she could for the boy. Furthermore, the mom mentioned how she planned to be a part of the boy’s life as he grew up and fulfilled her duty. “She promised to kiss my forehead every morning before I got on the school bus, to always encourage my interests, and to try her hardest to come to every practice and game of mine,” he wrote. He added that she promised she would never differentiate between him and her biological kids. 

The letter contained many more heartfelt promises that she had worked hard to fulfill. Sharing a hopeful concluding message, the mom wrote, “You’re an 18-year-old now - an adult and are hopefully heading to college soon and you no longer have any formal reason to maintain a relationship with me but I truly hope that in these last 12 years, I was able to be a loving mother and fulfill all my promises to you. I can only hope that you will continue to give me the privilege of being your mom because you will always be my son. I love you.”

The young man teared up as he read the letter again and again, overwhelmed by the gesture. Moreover, realizing that the promises she made 12 years ago had been fulfilled throughout the years was a priceless gift for him. “She opened her arms and heart to a boy who she had zero biological responsibility toward and has been the most loving and supportive mother I could ask for,” he exclaimed. u/Lucy-La-Loca remarked, “This is a true inspiration to all step-parents and children.” u/Hiker2190 wrote, “You take that note to her, you hug her, and you tell her that you could not have asked for a better mom.” In an update, the man shared that he talked to his stepmom after reading the letter and they both cried their hearts out, as well as expressed how much they love each other.