Every summer, right after school gets out, we head down to the beach for our summer break. During one recent trip, I was driving into town early one morning to pick up a few things for breakfast. The drive is about four miles long with a sidewalk that runs along one side of the road. […]
When my divorce hit, it was as if I was run over by a freight train. I hardly knew what hit me. I was confused, disoriented, and could barely think long enough to decide what color socks to wear. It was that bad. My instinctual reaction was to turn to God. That was good. However, […]
The pain of divorce can be so intense that people turn to alcohol, drugs, even relationships, to find relief. Sadly, this type of relief is only temporary. Ignoring this, they figure if one drink didn’t work, two will. If one pill helped, two would help even more. If one relationship didn’t last, the next one […]
As a kid, I can remember watching the old Frankenstein movie, starring Boris Karloff. The part where Frankenstein came to life and sat up with screams of “It’s alive!” from the mad scientist always scared my socks off. Not only was Frankenstein scary looking, his actually coming to life seemed very implausible. It was always […]
I have a 104 year-old grandmother, Nonni.* Until recently, she lived by herself. Whenever I would go to visit her, I was always struck by how simple a life she lived compared to me. She lived in a tiny, one bedroom apartment with only a bed and a few pieces of furniture. She does not […]
During my divorce I heard all kinds of ridiculous lies about me from my ex’s inner circle. Listening to them, you would have thought I was a maniacal, substance abusing, child beating, deadbeat. Sometimes, I found myself worrying that the judge might actually believe some of those blatant lies. I was in a custody battle […]
I thought that once my divorce was final, life would get back to some sense of normal and most of my divorce-related struggles would disappear. Yeah, right. I quickly discovered that the primary change was the types of struggles I faced, not struggles themselves. My main struggle initially was committing to a chaste lifestyle. That one […]
We all know someone who we would consider a fanatic. Someone who is consumed with a sports team, or a particular brand of car, or shoes, or clothes, or making money. Whatever their infatuation, it defines them. They are known by it. They are the Red Sox freak, or the Mercedes guy, or the Prada […]
I remember when I was in the throes of my divorce, one of my co-workers said, “I know this is difficult. You deserve to be happy.” I thought, “Yea, she’s right. I do deserve to be happy!” I approached happiness like some kind of life achievement, like graduating from high school. I wanted to graduate from […]
“I hope he rots in Hell!” the woman (let’s call her Marge) sitting in front of me said, her voice filled with bitterness. I sat and listened attentively for the next fifteen minutes as she described in vivid detail all the nasty things her ex did and all the pain he brought into her life. Listening […]