Divorce is making families 66% larger

Interesting article from Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-18/divorce-is-making-american-families-66-bigger  By Ben Steverman

Thus far I have avoided that expansion.  That is not true for my sons who have acquired, I use that term loosely, a bunch of new step-relatives.

That is a lot of families.  The bonding may not work as the bonds are week and not necessarily supported by extended family.

I agree with the article that this certainly complicates relationships.  I do not think this is a good thing for our society.

"The rise in divorce and remarriage is driving this growth in family size. Over the past two decades, the divorce rate has doubled for older Americans. Almost 30 percent of people over 50 had been married more than once, according to a recent study by scholars at Bowling Green State University. About 40 percent of older Americans with children are in stepfamilies, according to survey data.

“People in stepfamilies are often unsure of what their obligations are to their stepkin,” said Bowling Green sociology professor Karen Benjamin Guzzo. “It’s not uncommon for individuals to feel like they have to choose how to spread resources across their biological and step-relatives.”

"Couples with adult stepchildren are 11 percentage points less likely to give time to their children, and 13 points less likely to receive time from kids.

“The increased availability of kin does not fully compensate for the weaker bonds among family members in step families,” the paper concludes."

Reminder:  Make good choices

Happiness

“What is happiness? It’s a moment before you need more happiness.” -Don Draper


I heard this quote on CNBC.  With the markets hitting all time highs, we all want more.  More money and more happiness.  I do not think it works that way.


A fictional marketer pretty well describes our short attention span.  Behind that quote is a smart screen writer. 

Keep the heart racing

I think I may require a bit more stimulation than is normal.  Or perhaps I am the normal one and the reset of the world is being entirely too passive.  Perhaps it is related to my work.











Work pays the bills and is stimulating on occasion but also quite depressing.  I am a claims manager and an attorney.  I deal in death and destruction.  We might insure the drunk  who mows down a pedestrian.  We might insure a fancy ceramic barrel table that someone decides to place in their shower.  Their husband somehow falls on it and bleeds to death.   Five hundred cases in my inventory. These claims are resolved through negotiations or court. 


What we cannot do is reverse time and make that injury or death go away. 




The lesson from all of this:  enjoy your life, it may be shorter than you anticipate. 





















My need for stimulation was recently sated. 

A Man called Ove may have been from Minnesota

I do not often do book reviews.  I recommend this one.


Curmudgeons can be wise and interesting.  Or not.




A Man Called Ove, is about a Scandinavian curmudgeon  Minnesota (my people) has many Scandinavians and some curmudgeons as well. 




Ove was "from a generation in which one was what one did, not what one talked about."
“Men are what they are because of what they do. Not what they say.”  


True words.  Talk can be cheap, promises can be broken.  There is something very noble in those solid individuals who are honest, quiet, self reliant, and competent.


"Men who required only a few simple things from life, she said.  A roof over their heads, a quiet street, the right make of car, and a woman to be faithful to.  A job where you had a proper function.  A house where things broke at regular intervals, so you always had something to tinker with."




Good analysis. Yet life is more than that.  “He was a man of black and white. And she was color. All the color he had.”  




Lack of color makes for an unpleasant curmudgeon.




Ove reminded me a bit of my father.

Day 14

It was good seeing old friends in Wisconsin.  10 hours in the saddle to get home.  Nothing particularly interesting in Illinois and Indiana.  Just point and go.


The end of my journey lacked any sort of dramatic flourish that I had imagined along the way.


I had imagined that my girlfriend would want to see me.  Perhaps I would stop by her home on the way to my house to receive her welcome.


She had made other plans.


The journey was an act of independence.  A challenge to myself.


Challenge accepted.


I wrote the account to remember the moments of the adventure.  The hot, the uncomfortable, the beauty, the failures and the excitement.  It gave me a chance to ponder and write in my own clumsy way.


The relationship with Barb would end in less than six months.  I found someone in her that was more independent than myself. 


She had other plans.

In the moment

Sometimes it is good to not overthink

Motorcycles assist in this process.  The focus is the moment.

On a long stretch the mind does wander.  Sometimes it may take a whole tank

Nothing in this life is permanent

So it goes 

Working for the man

The silly season is upon Liberty Mutual again.

Their goal is to make it to the top 100 places to work.  It ain't happening. 

Time to reorganize.  That should help.

Apparently the SVP in charge of claims did not like it and bailed.

More productivity, cheaper employees.  They have discovered that people will do my job at a pay grade lower.  Saving money for the stockholders, oh wait, we have no stockholders.  Perhaps the dividends will go up? Oh, they do not pay dividends.  Perhaps the corporate suite can buy another jet or invest in a new country. 

My 6th reorganization in 30 years. 

Stay tuned.....