Izzy Rose - The Package Deal: My (not-so) Glamorous Transition from Single Gal to Instant Mom

In her sweet, funny, and immensely engaging book, Izzy Rose reminds us what it means to be a true family. I wonder if shed adopt me.

Cathy Alter, author of Up for Renewal:
What Magazines Taught Me About Love, Sex,
and Starting Over

Heres to Izzy Rose and The Package Deal: clearly, shes turning into not only a Fairly Good Mother (the most any of us can really hope for) buteven more importanta Fine Southerner as well! Her jump-on-off-that-cliff bravery and her might-as-well-laugh attitude are all the proof I need.

Jill Conner Browne, The Sweet Potato Queen

You dont have to be a stepmom to love The Package Deal. Even if youve shot a tiny human out of your birth canal, every one of Izzy Roses hilarious observations will ring true, every nugget of her hard-earned wisdom will be treasured. As funny as it is tender, as idiosyncratic as it is universal, The Package Deal is a sweet-tart of a valentine to all mothers who cobble together families as best we can.

Sarah Bird, author of How Perfect Is That

The Package Deal is a wonderful read. Not only is it wickedly funny, [but] Izzy Roses memoir contains great wisdom about how to embrace the unexpected and remake your life. You dont need to be a stepmom, or even a mom, to enjoy this fabulous book.

Stacie Cockrell, Cathy ONeill, and Julia Stone, authors of
Babyproofing Your Marriage

Izzy Rose nails how it is and what it feels like to be a new stepmom. Theres nothing like that shocking first year! She moved from an exciting career in a perfect location with built-in best friends to what?a strange place with no friends, no family, and the expectation of raising someone elses half-grown kids. Like many of us, Izzy was uprooted by love, and she portrays beautifully the strong love between her and her fianc. Its that force that propels them to the next level of connection and confidence that makes it all worth while.

Susan Wisdom, coauthor of Stepcoupling

Everyone knows that giving birth is both excruciating and joyousand that painkillers are an option. Not everyone knows that becoming a stepparent is the same way, except that theres nobody standing next to you, offering up the opiates. This is a hilarious, honest, heartfelt look at what it means to take on a family that isnt your own. Im a stepmother myself, and I can tell you, Izzy Rose rocks it.

Maria Dahvana Headley, author of The Year of Yes

An unvarnished and ultimately reassuring look at the terrors and triumphs of creating an instant family. Soul-baring, brave, and genuinely hilarious. Highly recommended!

Jennifer Marine, coauthor of No Ones the Bitch

A laugh-out-loud memoir packed with good advice a much-needed resource for the fledgling or soon-to-be stepmother.

Sally Bjornsen, author of The Single Girls Guide to Marrying a Man, His Kids, and His Ex-Wife

The Package Deal is good comic relief from a master of poking fun at herself and lightening the often bizarre challenges of stepmother-hood with humor.

Cherie Burns, author of Stepmotherhood:
How to Survive Without Feeling Frustrated,
Left Out, or Wicked

This is the story of a California gal who fell in love with a Southern guy, married, became a stepmom, left her career, and hauled off to Texas all in the same year. Did everything in these pages really happen? According to me, it did. You see, what youre about to read is not an affidavitits my candid point of view. If you want to know how others experienced this time, youll have to ask them.

For that distinction, names have been changed to protect the innocentthose who didnt necessarily know that TV people like me listen for good sound bites, remember them, and like to repeat them for laughs. And while this news promo producer values accuracy, I also consider myself a storyteller, so in an effort to make this memoir one you can easily pick up with one hand and finish before your next birthday, I have reordered some plot points, condensed the timeline, and combined a few minor players.

Regardless of these changes, I assure you this is the true, messy life of a very real stepmom. Best enjoyed with a sense of humor and, perhaps, a bottle of wine.

All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.

Blackbird, John Lennon and Paul McCartney

I can do this.

For Gods sake, Im in my mid-thirties. Im a certifiable grown-up. A successful professional who has survived the pressure of bigmarket TV newsrooms and demanding on-air talent for over a decade. Im an in de pen dent woman with my very own one-bedroom city apartment that I can actually affordand its technically not in the ghetto. Im super savvy about mass transit (tickets, tokens, transfers) and can parallel park on any slanted street in San Francisco. And Im fearless, but not stupid, about venturing out after dark for essentials from the corner market: wine, fancy nuts, and tampons. Im a big girl whos got a handle on sophisticated city living.

There is nothing I cannot do. At least, thats what Im telling myself right now.

The truth is, the big question on my mind is whether Im as gutsy and bold as I feel. Can this single, stylish, confident city girl remain courageous and in control as she meets some very adult milestone moments head-on? Were talking career change, cross-country move, and buying my first house, one large and sturdy enough to lodge my instant family. Oh, didnt I tell you? Im getting marriedto a divorced man with two kids.

Thats right. Say good-bye to single! Hello, instant mom.

Instead of throwing up at the thought of losing my personal freedom in the face of increased responsibility, I remind myself that there is something like fifteen million stepmoms in the country today. I just never planned on being one of them.

Thankfully, I have one advantage going into this new arrangement. I understand what its like to be a stepkid because I am one. My parents divorced when I was nine, and both remarried when I was ten, so while I might be an amateur as a parent, I speak the extended-family language.

But becoming a stepmother? To two adolescent boys? How do you prepare for that?

Ive always preferred the window seat. When Im flying, I can look down at the curl of the Colorado River or the tippy-top of the Sierras and immediately feel grounded. I know where I am. I know where Im going. But today Im stuck in the middle seat, thirty thousand feet in the air, with my boyfriends two kids on either side of me. How did I get here?

The Young One is hogging the view, and hes been prattling on since his little buns hit my window seat. Hes explaining to me how a plane stays up in the air (something Ive never understood), complete with diagrams on the backs of gum wrappers with captions like thrust and lift. Ive got more than two de cades on this kid, and I feel like theres nothing I know that he hasnt already mastered. Hes full of data, history, and lore. Not only that, but his memory is flawless, and he doesnt hesitate to show it off.