Coffee Talk
For maybe half a year now, LOD and I have been meeting every other week or so to talk about the kids’ schedules and any concerns or logistics of the kids. It started out as kind of tense meetings in which we’d debate which calendar format to use. Then we figured out that if we added coffee to the chat it got more friendly, and we didn’t get so territorial about calendars, so it turned into Get Coffee and Talk About the Kids. Now by the end of the summer we’ve settled into a bi-weekly-ish Get Coffee, Talk About The Kids, and Bitch About Construction All Over Ann Arbor session.
In the past it’s been all business (including the bitching about construction), but school started here last week and I think both of us were just so happy we each got the kids there on time and with their shoes on and with all the forms filled out on our respective days with the kids, and that our older one seems to be having a much better year so far even after only three days, so we were kind of unfocused when we had our meeting last Friday.
These were the highlights of our meeting:
- I introduced LOD to the manager of the coffee place (my local) and the manager seemed to be a bit confused about why ex-spouses were there together and not hostile to each other.
- LOD received an email Groupon for concealed carry lessons for handguns. This is funny for a lot of reasons.
- Somehow the topic of the Robin Byrd show came up. Robin Byrd is this freaky lady who does a show every night on public access TV in NYC during which she interviews strippers and porn stars and lets them promote their upcoming gigs and then shows pretaped stripteases. It’s hard to imagine until you’ve seen it. Anyway, it is never not going to be funny. Ever.
- We confirmed the kids’ school and soccer schedules.
- We exhaled about the kids’ new teachers.
- We bitched about construction.
Then we adjourned.
askmoxie
LOD
Agreed. Construction is worse. than. ever! this year in Ann Arbor. Sounds like a nice routine and a good change.
This, this is what conversations about kids should be. Between spouses, ex-spouses, part-time care givers and parents…
Yay you.
All the construction around here starts the end of August, too. PITA.
Oh god – I remember Robyn Bird from public access TV from when I lived in NYC 25 years ago. She was bizarre and a bit long-in-the-tooth-one-too-many-tanning-salon-visits then, and I cannot imagine time has done her any good. More than that, I can’t believe she is still around in the age of the internet and multiple cable TV options. Back then there were like 5 cable channels.
This was my exact thought. I cannot believe she’s still on the air. God, I miss New York!
A friend who is divorced just told me a funny story. At back-to-school night, her ex-husband (her kids’ dad) and her current husband (her kids’ step-dad) were talking with the teacher. It eventually became clear that the teacher assumed the two of them were a couple. When my friend walked up, the teacher became confused and asked if she was the kids’ biological mom/surrogate. Once it all got sorted out everyone had a good laugh!
Hahahaha! That is excellent.
I wish you guys wrote more… I love it when you do! I always feel a bit embarrassed when people suggest my ex and I are “too happy” as a divorced couple hanging out together with our kids. There is such an expectation we should be at war. I’m so happy we are apart… and so happy I can still enjoy what is great about my kids’ dad and especially when I can enjoy it with them.
I do, too. And we’re working on it. Although it’s nice to suffer through the paradox of not having a lot to write about.
I love that you guys can do this, for yourselves and mostly for your kids. My parents divorced when I was eleven. The first time I remember them ever actually talking, alone, without other adults present, was when I was nineteen and the three of us were driving to Bloomington, IN, four hours away from our hometown for a college visit. I leaned forward from the backseat and said, “Isn’t this great? I’ve been dreaming of you two being together again.”
I was totally joking because, duh, I knew my parent would never get back together and I was honestly okay with that but the comment made my mom mad and hurt my dad’s feelings. Can you tell which one of them did want to get back together and which didn’t?
These days they have no trouble interacting at any events that involve my kids or my nephew but they still prefer not to spend any more time together than necessary.
Hello, friends. I love when I see a WTFGU update in my feed reader. And…it’s funny in a curious way that the habits you two are forming/have formed are the habits of a healthy marriage. Which brings to mind two thoughts: 1) Some people are happier and healthier partners when they’re no longer married, and 2) we can all learn from each other no matter what our circumstances.