by Nancy | May 16, 2018
Movie makers have been entertaining us with divorce stories for many decades. Fortunately, in my divorce mediation practice, I rarely witness the knock-down, drag-out fights depicted in cinema, and that’s mainly because my clients come to me in the spirit of...
by Nancy | May 9, 2018
Family secrets are powerful. They can create a strong bond or they can be divisive. And for some reason, they aren’t usually insignificant. Affairs, abuse, addiction, mental illness, and even arrests are giant secrets that family members can be forced to...
by Nancy | May 2, 2018
I’ve reinvented myself several times. After the death of my parents and my husband in a 20-month time span, I reinvented myself on a massive scale. No longer a daughter or a wife, for the first time ever I was just ME. I floundered for awhile before arriving at...
by Nancy | Apr 25, 2018
One of you likes to pick fights. It’s the stimulation, the mental ping-pong match, the surge of adrenaline when you win. The other of you avoids conflict like it’s your close-talking, garlic-breathing uncle. Why? What makes us so black and white (or red...
by Nancy | Apr 18, 2018
Whether you’re negotiating a real estate deal or which movie to see, occasionally you’re going to encounter an immovable force. You want to get your way but it’s not looking good. Do you cave? Will you seem weak? Do you push? Will your actions be...
by Nancy | Apr 11, 2018
Despite all the news about cyber-bullying, shaming is not only a social media phenomenon. I can trace it back to my childhood, when my kindergarten teacher, Miss Vandezandee, shamed me in front of the whole class. I told her that I’d squashed a worm on my way to...
by Nancy | Apr 4, 2018
We all know someone who insists on showing us what, where, how, and why to do something. They will insist that they’re not trying to assert control, and rationalize that it’s just common sense. Their way is simply better. In the realm of picking your...
by Nancy | Mar 28, 2018
If you haven’t read last week’s blog about how to prepare for divorce, please take an extra few minutes to read it now. Thank you. Okay, you’re ready to move forward. Now what? Are you thinking about mediation? Are you and your soon-to-be ex able...
by Nancy | Mar 19, 2018
You’ve decided to end your relationship and I’m sure it took a great deal of soul-searching, endless talks with your support system and, finally, the most difficult conversation of all — telling your partner. Now what? Obviously, there are many...
by Nancy | Mar 14, 2018
I’m no expert on parenting (other than to say I had two good ones). This topic is timely for me, however, because it seems to be a common thread in my mediation practice. Co-parenting after divorce can be a slippery slope. It requires two people who are no...
by Nancy | Mar 7, 2018
As a divorce Mediator, I listen to couples whose complaints about each other run the gamut from infidelity to hoarding to gambling to laziness. It’s a good thing I’m trained to be neutral and non-judgmental, because a lot of this stuff can be pretty...
by Nancy | Feb 28, 2018
In the past few weeks, I’ve repeated that statement enough times that I consider it to be a sign for me to write about it. Caring for an aging family member is becoming more and more common. We’re living longer but not necessarily better. In a perfect...
