50% Chance of Snow - What do winter weather and divorce have in common?
The weatherman was calling for snow or ice. He wasn’t sure exactly what we were going to get, but he said he was fairly sure we were going to get something. He signed off the forecast with the recommendation to be prepared.
The next morning I woke up, and, of course, there was snow and ice everywhere. It covered the ground, it covered the trees, and, not surprisingly, the windshields of every car in sight were frozen over with ice. As I surveyed the situation I noticed a neighbor across the street attempting to de-ice his windshield. While this would be a fairly common sight on this chilly morning, what made this particular instance interesting was the manner in which my neighbor was attempting to remove the ice from his windshield. He had pulled a credit card from his wallet and was attempting to scrape the ice from the windshield with the credit card. The icing on the cake was that he was not wearing gloves of any kind.
The result of his pitiful attempt was just as one would expect. He ruined his credit card, battered his fingers, removed very little ice from his windshield, and could see very little through his windshield as he pulled from his parking spot. Despite the weatherman’s warnings, my neighbor was not prepared.
I, on the other hand, had previously purchased a very nice, and very inexpensive ice scraper from Target. It has a long handle that allows me to reach more than half-way across my windshield. It has a brush on the back side to assist in removing snow from the body of my car without scratching my car. This ice scraper made easy work of de-icing my windshield as well as removing any other frozen precipitation from my car. When I was finished, I could see through my windshield very clearly. I, unlike my neighbor, was prepared.
While properly de-icing your windshield does not improve road conditions, it allows you to see the dangers much more clearly so that you can react in a more timely and safe manner. Divorce is very much like de-icing your windshield. The more prepared you are, the easier you will be able to see the dangers on the road ahead, and the better the result you will achieve. Those who are unprepared cannot see the pitfalls. They make quick, emotional decisions and usually end up in positions they never thought they would be in.
Similar to the weatherman’s prediction, statistics show that roughly 50% of all marriages end in divorce. Fortunately there are a few simple steps you can take to make sure you are prepared for divorce if or when the time comes. Check back soon for Preparing for Divorce - Part II, Hope for the Best, Plan for the Worst, where I will discuss how you can prepare yourself for divorce.