Can you have a party 🥳 around divorce that’s actually fun?
I gotta tell you, last week was a BIG. WEEK.
For PurplCouch. For divorcing folks in Burlington. For me personally.
Thirty folks came together last Thursday to talk about divorce. In person. With cocktails and seltzers and chicken bites on skewers. At a party we titled “Plus One Optional: A Party to Destigmatize Divorce.”
Before the event, my co-hosts and I weren’t sure what to expect, and we consoled ourselves with, “Well if no one shows up, at least the three of us will have a great time!”
But folks did show up. And not just physically, but emotionally. I overheard conversations that bypassed the customary get-to-know-each-other bullshit. I heard strangers exchanging loss, delight, resilience, struggle, tips, and high-fives.
I even dragged in my purple couch so photographer Amanda Starr could snap beautiful photos of folks in their own “purple couch moments.”
We three co-hosts on my purple couch! (left to right) Nanci Smith, Sarah Lyman, and Amanda Peden. đź“·: Amanda Starr Photography.
We three co-hosts on my purple couch! (left to right) Nanci Smith, Sarah Lyman, and Amanda Peden. đź“·: Amanda Starr Photography.
👉 I invite you to be an inaugural member of my new Facebook group Divorce Community: Connection & Resources - so we can keep supporting each other!
If you’re in the throes of divorce, I cannot tell you it’s all as <higher power> intended. But I can tell you this: you will make it to the other side and find your way again.
Warmly,
Sarah đź––
PS: I am overflowing with gratitude to co-hosts Amanda Peden and Nanci Smith. And to ALL THOSE who attended. And to those who helped us make it a party: DJ Ben Blanchard, the staff at Halvorson’s Upstreet Cafe, Earth + Salt, Amanda Starr Photography, and Phoenix Books.
PPS: The OTHER big thing last week?! I told jokes at a stand-up comedy showcase! 🎤 It was the culmination of an Intro to Stand-Up Comedy workshop at the Vermont Comedy Club - and it was awesome and hard and scary and exhilarating. The flop sweat has finally dried, but wow pushing myself WAY out of my comfort zone has been a rush. Maybe I’ll write about that in another newsletter.