MEET THE MAPLEWOOD DIVORCE CLUB

From the New York Post today: 

Divorce had a way of bringing Suzanne Riss and Jill Sockwell together.

Riss, a freelance journalist living in Maplewood, NJ, had just separated from her husband in 2011 when she met Sockwell, a real estate agent and fellow Maplewood resident who was just a couple of steps ahead of Riss in her own divorce process. A mutual friend recommended the two moms meet to share war stories; instead, it was a surprisingly uplifting encounter.

“It could have just been this thing where you go get coffee with someone and never talk to them again, but we had a connection,” says Sockwell, 40, a mother of two girls.

Riss and Sockwell. Photo: NY Post

“We both wanted to challenge the idea that a divorce is one of the worst things you’re going to go through,” adds Riss, 45, who has a 12-year-old son.

Their coffee date marked the beginning of what would turn into the 100-plus-member Maplewood Divorce Club, a support group named after their suburban New Jersey town. To divorcées like them, Maplewood had a tendency of appearing overrun by happy nuclear families, and it could be alienating at times. But when Riss, Sockwell and other local women going through divorce got together, the town became a supportive enclave for newly single ladies.

Riss and Sockwell have even collaborated on a new book, “The Optimist’s Guide to Divorce” (Workman Publishing Co.), which challenges readers to reinvent themselves post-divorce, rather than fall into a merlot-filled pit of despair. January sees a roughly 30 percent increase in divorce filings compared with other times of the year. 

Read the rest HERE.