May 6, 2026

Today's death of Ted Turner makes me want to highlight how divorce, when done right, can be a positive experience for those involved. Sometimes a married couple just grow apart and the individual people involved just need to go their separate ways to achieve new goals that have developed in their lives.

Edith Wharton realizes that separation can be "the best turn [two people can do for one another] by getting out of each other's way at the right moment". This should happen with no animosity and under no circumstances should the people involved "behave like sworn enemies ever afterward".

From a distance this appears to be how Ted Turner and Jane Fonda approached their separation and the twenty-five years of life following their breakup. On this day of Ted's death, I hope we can use this part of his life to remind ourselves that not all marriages are meant to last and that is fine.