Also known as child exchange day. I am a product of this holiday event. My exchange day was on Christmas Day. For a couple of years I would be transported to the train station,, spend 14 hours on the L & N passenger train from Louisville to Atlanta or Atlanta to Louisville. Just a mirror image of the previous trip. As it was an overnight trip. I had a Pullman berth room which came with dinner and breakfast. Following my father’s departure from the train company I became a frequent flyer on Eastern Airlines for a couple of years. Then after leaving home the decision was always which parent got Christmas and who was the best cooking side of the family for Thanksgiving. And then, through divorce and remarriage, the confusion of scheduling was doubled. .Through all of this legal wrangling with ex spouses, (I always referred to my ex spouse as Meredith’s Wife-in-law) the entire reason for the celebration was completely lost. When Meredith was healthy we were active in the church choir. Starting before Thanksgiving, all the extra rehearsals with so much music to learn and perform was to say the least, exhausting.. I use the word perform because that is exactly what it was. A performance for the flower children of the congregation. Those are the folks who show up to church when the alter has extra flowers for decoration. Mainly Easter and Christmas. All this rant to say, this is the first Christmas without the Queen. It has been five years since Meredith was strong enough to attend Christmas Eve service. She missed gong five years ago. But not so much since then. With the way her church abandoned her, in her time of need, I do not feel the urge to return. But I digress from the title theme. All you couples with children who read this and are contemplating divorce, please hear my voice. At one time you promised everything to your spouse, had children together and now the road has gotten bumpy. Do your children a favor. Go to your lawyers, have them draw up the papers but date them for the day your youngest child graduates high school. That will solve the constant aggravation of child support. Trust me on that canker sore of divorce. Agree to never fight, argue or raise your voices in front of your children. Get twin beds. Do what ever it takes to put your hostilities for each other on hold until your children, God’s gift of life to the both of you, graduate high school. Take from one who grew up in this situation, raised a child and has grandchildren in this situation. You owe it to your children.