Snow.

Not that’s it’s unusual at this time of year, given we do live in Canada, but were we expecting it?

I didn’t hear about it.

And when you’re divorced, even snow takes on a new meaning.

Seriously.

When I was newly divorced it meant hours of shoveling. By myself. With two little kids. So it was a dreaded day. Similar to garbage nights, that I talked about here.

Though I now have Robbie to shovel:)))(and 5 older kids), snow still has “divorce meaning”, especially for the kids.

It’s the boots.

Yup.

The boot run.

I got a text this morning from Zach. They need their winter boots. They had been at their Dad’s last night, and we weren’t expecting snow, so they did not bring their boots. They would swing by and get them before school.

As I waited at the window for their arrival, I saw my neighbor’s ex wife pull up in front of his house, hop out of her car and run up to his door. She waited a few moments and then she was handed…. Boots.

The divorce boots.

It actually got me a little sad:(

Most kids see snow and get excited! Yay! Snow! Let’s play!!

But divorce kids? They first look out the window and see snow and think: where are my boots? Where are my snow pants? Do I have my gloves here?

So while I like to focus on all the positive, sometimes these little things make me sad.

I guess the positive light is that this sadness in turn can help me be a bit more compassionate towards all those “divorce” kids, who, through no fault of their own, have a few more things on their mind and a few more responsibilities to contend with other than the usual childhood stuff.

So when they hear “Wow, you are so lucky! You get two vacations and extra presents for Christmas and birthdays”, they can fire back and say “Yes, but you don’t have to worry about where your boots are.”

And then I will give them an extra hug for the extra load they have to carry.