Monday, November 14, 2011

Divorce as dinner conversation

So the six of us were sitting around the dinner table when for some reason or another it occurred to us that we all had divorced parents. I think we were all a bit gobsmacked by those odds and then we mentioned the mutual friends who were running late and they turned out to be children of divorce as well. Eight out of eight.

When I was a child, no-one had divorced parents. Divorced parents were an anomaly. I think about how ashamed my Dad and Stepmum were of being seen as a blended family and how I was ever the only child on the airplane flying interstate between parents.

Now everyone has a blended family and flights are filled with children who got the short end of the stick in custody battles.

Some of us told stories about the traumatic things their parents had done to their families before and during the divorce. Some of us stayed quiet not wanting to share things which were too personal even for close friends.

I think though that we'll all in our way, be more self aware when we choose our partners to not make the mistakes of our parents.

Coconat spoke up at some point to reassure us ".. it doesn't matter, because despite everything we all turned out okay."

No-one agreed with her though and the table went silent.

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