Mediate Michigan

It’s been almost two years, but it feels like yesterday. My Aunt Randi was taking me to buy wedding shoes – her gift to me. So there we are having a wonderful time chatting away in the car when my cell phone rang. It was my dad. He wanted to know (sort of kidding) whether, if I got two sets of dishes from my bridal registry, he could have one. He was in the midst of his second divorce and his ex took everything. I’m thinking – my dad? A successful periodontist and he has no plates? How sad is that? I remembered the pain I’d felt as a child of divorce all over again, but this time it was different.

It occurred to me then that divorcees should have a gift registry just like people getting married. They lose half of everything they own. Everybody in their circle feels bad for them. They want to do something to help, but what? I’m thinking, why not help them rebuild?

via Randi Small and Jen Schwartz: Yes, There Really Is Life After Divorce….