Divorced parents live together in the same house with their 5 and 13-year-old kids, dad refuses to split the cost of a couch with his ex-wife: 'This is an untenable situation.'

It's a miracle they've been able to live like this for the past three years.

There is no greater relief than finally leaving a situation that has hurt you too much for too long. It's only human to want to find every possible solution to a problem before abandoning ship. We don't want to be quitters who run away from our difficulties the second something gets a little tricky. But once you leave a situation that shows no sign of improving after giving it the old college try for far too long, you realize that leaving was always the only solution that would have worked. Sometimes you need years of suffering through something to have the strength and knowledge to know that leaving is not actually the last resort. It's the solution that you've been seeking for so long.

It's only natural to want to maintain some sense of normalcy when your life radically changes. A parent might still clean their child's bedroom after they go away to college, even when they're not around to make it messy, because it makes them feel better about their absence. A person might continue to reach out to their former best friend, even after it becomes clear they probably won't be able to be friends in the long term, because they're so desperate to maintain that connection and return to the way things used to be. It's tough to accept that your life will never be the way it was again. Even if you can conceptualize the idea that moving on is the right move for you, the past isn't as ideal as you remember it; the emotional reality of such a change can be initially challenging to accept. It's okay to be in denial for a little while, but once you can accept that your marriage is over without crying about it five times a day, you need to take action to create your new life. If you are stuck in the past, you're not going to be able to reap the benefits of the change that will come, whether you like it or not.

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The parents in this story are in denial about the fact that their living situation is no longer workable. They've been divorced for years, and now they're having tiffs about household expenses as if they're roommates. They think that all four of them living together in the same house is better for their two kids, but their kids are still living with parents who fight as if they never got divorced.
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