Getting a divorce isn’t exactly like taking a leisurely walk through the park. It’s more like getting lost in a corn maze. Remember when you wandered around that corn field in the fall and got completely confused about which direction was which? divorce is like that. There’s legal junk to deal with and feelings that could spin your head around. One day you’re splitting up who gets the toaster, and the next, you have tears falling into your honeymoon scrapbook as you tell your Labrador what a great listener he is. Crazy town!

Has anyone here ever been at a family BBQ when Aunt Sally shows up with the new boyfriend and you can just barely stammer out, “Nice day, right?…” Talking about divorce can be just as tricky. Friends aren’t sure whether to show up with a margarita or a box of tissues. At the same time, your emotions are ping-ponging around like a squirrel who had two cups of coffee. Uhm, have you ever felt rage, relief, and then laughed uncontrollably all in the same day. Just like when your boss came to work with that terrible new haircut and you were trying not to snicker but.
But there’s something about all the wonderful times on this rollercoaster ride that leave you feeling stronger. Not like from a cheesy motivational poster. It’s actually quite freeing when you discover you can still throw down in the kitchen without resorting to takeout. All those hours of you spent drooling over food channels finally paid off in buttery goodness. Who knew?
If you have kids, they’ve got their own front row seats to watching your emotions go from zero to sixty, and they can put on the best emotional fireworks displays. They see more than you realize. They ask you countless questions – so many questions! Suddenly, you’re an amateur psychologist explaining why adults need to be alone sometimes. Like narrating a drama series. It’s kind of menacing when they give you that knowing grin like they totally know what’s going on.

Amid the chaos, there is a renaissance of finding out who you really are. This blend of confronting new truths and leaping into uncertainties is like a jumping into a pool of courage Divorce weirdly isn’t the end—the one last grand finale—it’s the overture to a whole new act. Even if that act is you, juggling while on a unicycle. In a hurricane.

So like any venture into a brave new world, humor helps. So does the ability to sit still and just be patient and savor the irony on top of it all. Including those intricate corn mazes because no unforgettable story can start with “Everything went perfectly according to plan.”