OK, I've avoided commenting on the McGreeveys long enough.
My folks got divorced in the 1950s, when it was considered something of an admission of failure to do so. Though my dad had cheated on my mother (more than once, it turns out) and she offered to keep the marriage going if he would mend his ways, he opted to move out and move on.
I suspect the women in our little rural community quietly respected my mother for being willing to refuse putting up with a not uncommon situation and for trying to make her way alone with two young boys. But no one stepped up and said so directly, to my knowledge.
My brother and I were somewhat stigmatized by the other kids in our three-room schoolhouse for what was considered a nonconforming family situation. Hey, kids can be cruel, what can I say! Besides, this was the Age of Conformity.
Fast forward to the McGreevey era.
Now the deal is to let it all hang out. Both sides take it to Oprah. Both write tell-all books (which many feel don't really tell all after all).
Dina Matos' recent foray into the book-hustling circuit brought me unsolicited eyes-on reports from two readers who witnessed her at two different book-signing events.
Consensus: Dina is 'not the most riveting public speaker' as one put it, though she seems likable enough and 'real' in one-on-one conversations. Jim is better on his feet. Surprises? None, really.
Are the publishers going to be surprised?
The only thing on their minds is whether Dina will outsell Jim's rather meager 37,000 copies. For that, we'll have to wait a while.
Meanwhile, let's hope Dina and Jim listen to the judge, stop using their daughter as a proxy for their issues, and apply some common sense in getting this over with and getting on with their lives.
So we can, too.
Maybe there was something to be said for the Age of Conformity.
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