Friday Five 245

When Grandparents Divorce, Everyone Hurts

This summer, I experienced a painful and somewhat unexpected experience while visiting my recently-divorced mother’s house for the first time in three years with my wife and four children. It was quickly evident that my oldest two children had a strong recollection of some of the happy memories that we had experienced in this home while their grandparents were still married. This was where we had enjoyed large family dinners during holidays such as Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and where fireworks were lit for the Fourth of July. In this house, engagements had been announced, babies had crawled on the floor, and cousins had formed lifelong friendships. Interestingly, my mother has kept all the pictures featuring many of these memories in frames throughout the house: a reminder of the way things were. This was emotionally overwhelming for my 11-year-old son who sobbed on my shoulder as we sat and talked together on the couch. When I asked him about that experience recently, he explained, “I remembered how things used to be, and that I will never see them [grandpa and grandma] together again.” Read More