Divorce Florida Style

At every stage of life the 4th of July was special, and still is.  A time to sit back, at least for a minute at some time during the day,  and think about how lucky we all are to be living in The United State of America, where we enjoy freedom which has never in history been a right enjoyed by all.
This column is about surviving divorce.  It is happily reported that our 4th of July, as usual, will be spent surrounded by wife, children, their husbands and wives, grandchildren and, yes, the former wife and her husband in an Atlanta suburb.  It will feature swimming, barbeque, a homemade fireworks display, at the son’s house, and freedom from regret and animosity about the distant past and a lot of confidence in the younger generations.

In the 1950s neighborhood of sacred memory, eight blocks by three blocks, where every child knew the resident of almost every house by name, and most of the houses held children of a similar age the “The 4th of July” memory stands like a Norman Rockwell painting.

By 10 AM we had, with our parents, decorated our bicycles, and wagons, carrying those too young to bike,  in red white and blue crepe paper and streamers, and made our way to the west end of the neighborhood, down near, but not at Advent Lutheran church.

From there, after being turned around, we proceeded back through the neighborhood to the cheers of our parents and those teen age siblings of our peers too cool to be in the parade anymore, but not too cool to come out and watch.

There was probably some music from a few battery-powered radios, bur the background sound was provided by hundreds of baseball cards stuck through the spokes of the bicycles, sounding a bit like thunder on the always-sunny morning.

The route, eastward, a straight shot down a tree line leafy tunnel, led, after twenty minutes or so to Heistand, the neighborhood school, which in the summer had been turned over to the Township’s recreation department.  Parents provided food, the Township drinks and watermelon.
Children, divided by age and interests enjoyed the swings, monkey bars, and teeter totter, or were chosen into a softball game that soon began on that special diamond with the stunted right field, and bumpy base paths.

Certainly, at night, there were fireworks, at a municipal park or after the “White Roses” minor league game, but it is the morning parade images that remain as clear in my head as if the picture had just come out of my digital camera this morning.

What does this have to do about divorce, you ask?  Remember that while you are going through your dark tunnel which, one-way or the other, is your one of your own invention, your primary obligation is to protect your children.

Most importantly, to protect your children from the hate and distrust that you feel toward your soon to be former husband or wife, and allow you children’s memory of today, The 4th of July, 2008, to be a shining memory for all of their lives.