The good the bad the good.

My title to this story is a cheesy ripoff of the classic Clint Eastwood movie The Good The Bad The Ugly.

Sitting alone on a beach blanket at a local State College waiting for the band to come on, I write these words.

The good:

The good in my title tells of a time in fairytale land where three beautiful children are being raised to be all they can be and where a family goes out on outings together as a whole family.

We would frequent The now defunct Fairytale Forest in North Jersey where you are greeted by a giant egg-shaped Humpty Dumpty sitting high on a concrete wall. It is a memory my kids still talk about to this day.

It brings great memories for me, my parents took my brothers and me there when I was a little kid.

Excited to go back as an adult, we would take my oldest boy there in a stroller and then 2 more kids came along so I had to go back there at least three times and that is good. Carrying a baby in a backpack on your back is good.

Family is good. Family is important. Families are a gift from God.

The Bad.

Families breaking up is bad, in fact it downright sucks for everyone involved. Divorce leads to gloom and dark clouds roaming the sky on the sunniest days. Like Springsteen said, “it’s raining but there ain’t a cloud in the sky.”

The good:

Kids grow up and become young adults with their own homes and are only a text message/phone call away.

They are my family and that is good.

The bad: I’m on this beach blanket by myself.

The good: Darkness changes to light if you wait the whole day out.

More good: Being alone, I have plenty of room on my blanket here to stretch out and write this story while beach balls fly over my head.

It is mostly families here. I wonder are people wondering why is that guy by himself.

I conclude, it doesn’t matter if they are or if they are not.

The good is (always seek the good) I am enjoying live music and music moves my soul and it’s a perfect summer night.

I would like to encourage any of my divorced readers or those going through divorce, separation, or breakup, remember when you got married it was good.

There is good, there is bad but then there is good again. I promise.

Your pain and struggle is bad but after the bad comes the good.

There is so much good in this world. There are so many good souls out there. Focus on the good.

The good part of being alone is more time to do things of new interest with an opportunity to grow or to renew old and abandoned hobbies. I am playing chess from this phone with my son and that is good. It’s another fun way of communicating with him and we both sharpen our analytical skills. And that is good.

The bad: He beats me most of the time.

The good: Each time I end up in checkmate I become a better player and that’s good.

The horns are shouting and the band is covering Southside Johnny so it’s time to go but be aware of the GOOD THE BAD THE GOOD.

After the bad comes the good.

The Cars said it best, “Let the good times roll.”

Good things come to those that wait.

Hang in there my friends and be good.