The Learning Channel is a cable television network in Silver Spring, Maryland, established in 1980 with an educational mission.

Watching Jon and Kate Gosselin is giving us all an education in the difficulties of marriage.  The reality tv show has become a sensation in its fifth season as the husband and wife raising eight children are suddenly becoming unhappily married before our eyes.  There are rumors of infidelity on the part of both spouses.

Ratings are going through the roof as we all watch the marriage disassemble like a car wreck you can’t take your eyes off of.

“Couples squabble. Dealing with eight kids is an overwhelming task,” says Laurie Goldberg of TLC.  “The show will do well as it remains authentic and relatable.”

The couple is under contract for 39 more episodes, so even if their marriage breaks down, we might get to watch them proceed through a divorce.

Lots of my clients are computer consultants, engineers, scientists, economists, investment bankers or accountants.  They ask me questions about their cases and they want clear answers.  Before I became a lawyer, I was a chemical engineer, so I know something about how they think.

In math class there was usually one right answer and everything else was wrong.  They are looking for the one right answer.  I remember staying up all night at college with my study group working through the equations to get to that one right answer.

After math, chemistry and physics classes, law school was a shock to me.  I still recall the first day of Contracts when Professor Joe Covington asked me stand up and explain to the class what “justice” means.  I am afraid I did not do a very noteworthy job of it.

I excelled in classes where the rules were hard and fast, like Civil Procedure, for example.  But I did not fair as well in those classes where the concepts were harder to get a handle on, like Torts.

I can empathize with the puzzled look on the faces of my “math and science” clients when I explain divorce law to them.  It is a human system and humans are full of flaws.  There are no right answers – only probabilities.

They are uncomfortable with these fuzzy answers.  But I sometimes remind them that, even in their world, they deal with unknowns, such as the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, dark matter, string theory and Shroedinger’s cat.

The Latin word “alimonia” means food, support, nourishment, sustenance.

The Latin word “alere” means to nourish and the Latin suffix “monia” signifies action, state, or condition.

“All the passions make us commit faults; love makes us commit the most ridiculous ones.”

- François de la Rochefoucauld

“Rebuilding your life after divorce can be like trying to crawl out of a very deep, dark hole with the bank caving in.  The good news is there is life on the other side.”  – Joanie Winberg, author and life coach.

Laurie S. Moison writes about the newest coaching specialty, life planning after divorce.  She gives us nine tips for planning a new life after a divorce:

1. Work through your grief.
2. Recognize your survival mechanisms.
3. Assess your talents.
4. Start living consciously.
5. Write your own story.
6. Develop a project for the future.
7. Plan for obstacles.
8. Deal with your fears.
9. Take incredible care of yourself along the way.

Click on the article at divorce360.com to see more details about how to accomplish these steps.