Dysfunctional Family: 101

You Suck At Being Divorced: The Good Enough Divorce

   The other night my eldest yelled that his father and I suck at divorce. We had spent the afternoon at a dance recital and all the disparate  pieces of my children’s extended family had converged. My ex’s family and my family. We had come together to celebrate. But tensions, awkward hugs and tightly smiled [...]

Miri’s Teens Say, “You Want Me To Wha?”

My house has a dishwasher full of dishes and the winter coats are in a heap rather than hung up on the listing coat rack from The Dollar Store. There is a film of dust on the coffee table, and blanketing the bookcases and the floors all need a good vacuuming. I’ve spent forty plus years [...]

Divorced Thanksgiving

My ex got the kids for Thanksgiving. They were metaphorically placed between us on an overly-polished, black mahogany conference table that was the length of a football field. I saw our children inside the shine, their faces on Thanksgiving, their plates full of food and their tired overstuffed moans by the end of the evening. Inside [...]

NBC’s Parenthood; Too Good to be True

Parenthood, the NBC series rocked my utopian hour of  television-Valium last night: Adam, as in the stable brother with the beautiful wife and three kids, kissed the young woman working for him. Earlier this week, Hayley watched Housewives of Beverly Hills and was prompted to write about domestic violence. Her piece spurred me to share my [...]

Internet Dating Gone Wrong Part 3: Green Singles

Green Singles is a wild, wild west dating site. Green Singles, true to the obvious hint in the name, is  filled with groovy men and women looking to connect over a shared love of the environment and everything gentle and peaceful. Sounded like the place for me. I fancied myself evolved to the point of [...]

Is There Such a Thing As Good Divorce?

Miri already told us that no matter what you hoped, co-parenting is an unfortunate myth. That you are perpetually divorcing. What about the actual aspect of divorcing? Is there such a thing as a good divorce? In a surprisingly cheery article, the New York Times tries to convince us that this is so in Susan [...]

Internet Dating Gone Wrong Part 2: JDate

In Internet Dating Gone Wrong Part 1, I had Chinese food and “intimacy.” Now, I’m hooking up with Jews from New Hampshire via JDate. First, a story. We’re in Israel. We’re in the Old City. There are teenagers (Israeli soldiers) with assault riffles slung over their shoulders and cell phones pressed to their ears and cigarettes [...]

Married–Or Not? Single Ladies Please Stand Up

Last week, Kate Bolick’s article “All The Single Ladies“ in Atlantic Monthly proposes an idea that many single friends have already openly discussed: stay single or get on the I-want-to-get-married path? Me, I’ve been there, married and divorced. I made a choice to get remarried because I love my (current) husband and believe in marriage. Call me [...]

Internet Dating Gone Wrong Part 1: Chinese Food and True Intimacy

I’m wading into the shark infested waters of dating after divorce dramas to tell a “hypothetical” story. Join dating site in order to avoid becoming a lonely woman in fifties living with cats and marking the calendar between obligatory visits from children. Receive email notification that Ron is interested! With an exclamation point. Despite knowing [...]