Being a divorced middle-aged man does not make me unique. Neither does being the father of two teenage boys. What’s a little different is living not just in a different town, but a different state.

What is also sometimes a rarity is getting along with one’s ex-wife. We try to work things out so that I can see the boys as often as possible. There’s one thing we set up from the beginning — it’s actually part of the legal mumbo-jumbo we went through.

Each year, the boys stay with her for the first week, which, in South Carolina, is the week leading into Christmas. Then, I pick them up after lunch on Christmas Day and they spend a week with me until New Year’s Eve.

Being teenage boys, my sons will want to either a) stay indoors and watch shows or play on their phones, or b) brave the cold to go skateboarding. Perhaps they’ll turn them into snowboards?

Doesn’t matter — I just know I’m in for a good time with two of the most important people in my life.

Martin L. Cahn is the managing editor of The Kenbridge-Victoria Dispatch. His email address is martin.cahn@farmvilleherald.com.