Divorce Is Part of Modern Love

While psychologists have preferred the term ‘blended family’ to ‘broken home’, true blending rarely occurs in second-marriages. Fracture at home is becoming a tolerable reality of modern families. Ellen Lupton recalls her own parents separation as the beginning of a more diverse family life: “Children are resilient. For my sister and me, the painful news delivered that night in 1973 eventually coalesced with everyday reality. The terrible became normal, and the kids were all right. … My extended family is a creaky, leaky contraption whose inner workings often trip and jam around ex-marital fault lines. This home has been broken, but don’t try to fix it. The cracks and gashes have made it what it is.”