Would you marry your ex a second time?

The reason actress and director Talulah Riley and billionaire founder and CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX Elon Musk second divorce has made digital and glossy headlines is because they are an actress and billionaire. And also because of the kicked down and mended fences that make them a public drama better than Vanderpump and less orange-tan and politically scary than Trump — even People mag refers to their paper filing as "attempting to divorce again."

The news, several weeks old even, keeps bringing to mind the couples I know who've stopped and started themselves, just not over Twitter and definitely not pending pre-nups worth seven figures. Some of those married-divorced-remarried-maybe divorced again couples have had children, others have not (Riley and Musk do not have children together, and he has five sons from a previous marriage). Their love stories fascinate me beyond the grab-your-popcorn tale of this billionaire and screen star. What pulls people back together after the agony of a big split? And what happens if there is a third unhappy ending after all of that?

What happens if there are children involved? How do parents calmly, responsibly, lovingly navigate a second break-up situation with kids? And how do those two people sink into the security of familiar love without the constant reminders of the past? 

While Hollywood (and maybe the big old internet gossip mill) love this storyline, how does it play out in real life?

I ask out of curiosity, not judgement. There are many ways to be in a relationship, just as there are many ways to be a wonderful mother. I'd like to know how and why and where it all stands if you are a mother who has ended your relationship with the other parent more than once. How did you and do you do it?

Share your opinions and experiences here. 

Interested in the single mom side of this story? Check out this fascinating read by first "starter" wife, Justine Musk before Elon Musk's relationships got even messier.