Facebook lets you list the following as your relationship status:
- Single
- In a relationship
- Engaged
- Married
- It is complicated
- In an open relationship
You also get to decide if you want to publish your relationship status or not. I wish these options were provided everywhere.
In most forms I need to fill out the choices are as follows:
- Single
- Married
- Divorced
- Widow(er)
There is no “I’d rather not say” option.
My legal family status recently changed to divorced – not single or in a relationship or it is complicated.
There is no free form field where I could enter a URL to a blog post explaining why I got divorced:
I did not abuse my ex wife, nor cheat on her, neglect her or do any drugs. I tried and continue to try to be a good father to our daughter. I could add to the list, but you get the point.
Here is a breakup email generator (Thanks @pamdodd) with a much longer list of reasons to break up. Nope, my ex wife did not send me one of these ;-)
Yes it bugs me that I am being thrown in the same category with men who got divorced for the reasons above. There is no 1st or 2nd degree divorce. You can take driving classes to get points wiped off of your driver’s record. A personal bankruptcy eventually comes off your record as well. The only way to get rid of being listed as “divorced” is to re-marry.
That’s why I like Facebook better than the IRS, banks or whoever makes me list myself as divorced.