Jane Thompson recalls looking in the mirror shortly after the end of her almost 23 year marriage and seeing the haggard, unhappy face of a woman she no longer recognized or knew and realized she had to do something. There had been too much crying and too much whining and she knew she had to snap out of it! “You can only stay in your pajamas so long before friends start knocking on the door and your children start fearing the worst!” And when she realized she wanted to make her life better the first seeds of Choosing Happiness after Divorce were born. “Slowly, I started making myself go out with friends, take short trips and start seeing myself as a capable, smart, happy woman! My life took on deeper meaning as I broadened my horizons in all areas of my life.”

Seeking a better paying job became the first order of business and then furthering her education to become a secondary school administrator came next. Once her three sons were graduated from high school and squarely situated in college she took her next leap into the job of assistant principal at a high school in a town where she knew not one person. “During my tenure there, as I dealt with so many families in distress, witnessing hate and anger between divorced parents, I saw the effects in these troubled teens. I spent many hours listening to heartbreaking stories that one parent or both inflicted on the other but knew from my own divorce experience, though not perfect, that divorce does not have to be this way.” After three years of joys and tears in this job, and seven years after her own separation and divorce, Jane married again.

Thanksgiving 2008 with my parents, Glen and Neta; my three sons and their wives: Paul and Andrea and their three, Tre, Emma, and Kate;  Matt and Sara; Shawn, but missing Kayla. Our other missing two are always in our hearts.

Happiness is a choice!

“With the money from the sale of my home to move to be with my husband, I was able to leave my employment and do what I had always wanted to do: write full-time. I knew I wanted to write about my experiences with teens and their parents, but it wasn’t until I saw up close what an angry hate filled mother can do to her children that the idea for this book took shape.” Jane has spent the past two years bringing together the steps that anyone can take to be happy after divorce. With her unique insight and perspective along with a combination of guided journal writing, further readings and recipes for the kitchen, she is showing women, and men, that happiness is a choice and one that should be made for peace of mind, but also for the lives of those touched by your divorce.

Jane is happily married to the love of her life and best friend Steve Hasenmueller. They currently make their home in Memphis, TN.