God intended marriage to be for a lifetime, so when it ends, it’s no surprise that it can cause extreme damage to a family. Divorce can wreak havoc, especially when kids are involved. Court battles are messy, fights get more intense, and children are often torn between two parents who they love very much.
But Codie LaChelle McPhate’s parents are showing society a new way of doing things after having made a promise to one another post-divorce that they would treat each other with respect and compassion.
Even 28 years later, Codie’s dad is still living up to that promise.
In a viral Facebook post, she shares how her father went above and beyond to help his ex-wife in order to be a good example for his children:
“This is my dad, mowing my mom’s lawn. They’ve been divorced 28 years.
My mom has bad knees, and my stepdad works out of town. When my younger siblings questioned ‘Why is your dad mowing mom’s lawn?’ I told them ‘Because, She needed help, and he knew she couldn’t get out here to do it, so he did.’
This is co-parenting. This is how lucky I am to have 4 parents who respect each other, and know that at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is showing your children (Even ones that are 32 years old) how to treat people, and how to love your family, no matter how it came together.
Edit: My dad is humored at how many people have seen this. He wants everyone to know ‘I’m no saint’, He just wants to show others that you don’t need to act like an angelic pastor on lent, but that we should all choose kindness whenever we can.”
In a post written for Love What Matters, Codie elaborated that her dad even did this while he was on vacation with her in Texas.
“Not only did he do something selflessly for her, [but he also] did it for her while he was on his VACATION,” she writes.
“My dad said he didn’t do this for the recognition,” she continued. “He said my mom and he decided when they were going through their divorce they would both choose to be adults and treat each other with respect and compassion, because no matter how their marriage ended, they both loved each other very much at one point, and that, that love – counts for something. That if they were going to raise their children to be good, kind people, they needed to be good kind people.”
Codie says she’s extremely fortunate to have such amazing parents. Kudos to this inspiring family for showing the rest of us an example of what authentic love and kindness really looks like!
