Great Idea Not Done #1

Here's a book I didn't write, but I think is still a great idea. Titled "Grown Children from a Previous Marriage," it would be a self-help book for adult children whose parents are divorcing. The title is inspired by every article I've read about rich men and their second families (e.g. Don Imus, Larry King, Michael Douglas), where the old guy rhapsodizes about fatherhood after age gazillion. He always says something like, "I probably wasn't around for my kids as much as I should have been the first time. Now I know how wonderful being a dad can be." Then the article says, "In addition to Jackson, age 5, and Annabelle, age 3, Old Guy has three grown children from a previous marriage."

Having been 32 years-old when my parents split, I know how hard it can be. I can remember thinking a long time ago, "If something bad happened, I probably wouldn't care so much if I had my own husband and family," which turns out to be completely untrue. For a good two years, I didn't speak to my father. He never told my sister or me that he got married (it was the seaside wedding photo on my grandmother's bureau that helped us figure it out). I didn't met his wife until 8 years after that (at my grandmother's funeral). I have yet to meet my three year-old "brother" and have no intentions of doing so. My sister and I cycled through the classic stages of grief (Anger, Denial, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance), though it was probably more Anger, Anger, Anger, Anger, and Acceptance. (Here, my mother would yelp, "But I was the person at Ground Zero!" Which is a whole chapter in itself.)

I'm thinking a workbook would make a great companion piece (because the women who read these kind of books like to fill in blanks), not to mention that the very do-it-yourselfness of a workbook would make it relatively easy to create.

Great idea, no? Someday I'll tell you all the reasons why I can't actually do it. (And I think of new excuses all the time.)