Karen Stewart, President of Fairway Divorce Solutions, says that in addition to splitting up your CD’s in a divorce, you are also forced to cut off an entire social network that may have been nurtured for years.

“Within a circle of friends, you expect certain people to align with you,” Stewart is quoted as saying in a Toronto Sun article by Tanya Engberg.  “Friends can’t be in both camps, but often they don’t know what to do. Their normal stance is, ‘I think it’s best if I stay out of it,’ but that’s not the way it works. Your family and close friends can’t stay out of it.”

Divorce is an entire life overhaul.  In addition to the end of the romance, you have to accept the loss of your former spouse’s family members and friends that you have known for years.

“For me, I closed that chapter and started all over,” says a 41-year-old divorced father with two children.  “I maintained friendships for a short while, but it became uncomfortable. They do take sides, no matter what they tell you. Parents are always going to support their own child. If you want to start over, you have to cut ties with mutual friends and say goodbye to the in-laws.”

Stewart says that saying goodbye is tough, but inevitable.

WUSA TV News Anchor, Andrea Roane, interviewed TGC Attorney, Jill Breslau, today about South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford’s marital difficulties.

“Right now it appears that Governor Sanford is more intent upon self-justification than he is on changing himself,” said Breslau.   ”His behaviors have been completely inconsistent with the values he says he holds, and he is glamorizing his relationship, and characterizing himself as a tragic hero, because he has risked everything for it—his marriage, his family, his political life, his reputation.  Only if he inflates the meaning of his affair is it worth all those potential losses.”

Regarding putting his marriage back together, Breslau, who is also a trained psychotherapist, said, “As much as the public finds it irresistible to be judgmental about Sanford’s behavior, a primary purpose of counseling is to have a private, confidential setting where the therapist is nonjudgmental.”

Taking a laptop on holiday can break up a family warns Professor of Psychology, Gary Cooper, of Lancaster University in the Daily Express.

“People seem to think a holiday is about having a short break and catching the sun while doing a bit of work. That’s dumb,” according to the Professor. “A holiday isn’t just for rest and recuperation but to commune again with your family, connect with your children. Obviously if the employee is stupid enough to take their laptop with them and tell their employer that they are available, then they are going to be exploited.”

I must confess that I have taken a laptop with me on every vacation with my family. Deb Shinder says she does too at wxpnews.com. She points out that laptops can be misused on a vacation just like a book, golf clubs or a fishing rod. But they are a tool than can allow you to get away from work and take a vacation in the first place. And they can benefit your family time by provoking interesting conversation, providing entertainment and helping you find places and things to do while on your vacation.

Do you take your laptop on vacation? Do you think your spouse ought to leave the laptop at home? Let us know what you think.