Just popped over to catch up on Pixel’s blog where’s she’s written a post about marriage and divorce (and revenge). It includes a rather amusing pic that made me smile =) Anyway, she said she was buying flowers in a market and struck up a conversation with a lady who was wondering what to buy as a gift for a Divorce Party.

I’m sorry … WHAT?

A Divorce Party?? Have you heard of this before? I haven’t. I’m stunned. Do people actually do this – celebrate the ripping apart of their marriage by throwing a party? I can’t believe it.

My experience was so different. When I got notified that our divorce was final and all the paperwork had been signed, I burst into tears. I knew it was coming; I had more than a year to prepare while various legal and financial issues were being bounced back and forth between attorneys and accountants. I also knew it was ultimately the right thing and that we would both be better off when it was officially over. But the finality of it all hit me hard and while some people smiled, hugged and congratulated me when the news came through, I was overwhelmed with sadness and thought their (probably well-intentioned) behaviour was so not what I needed. I was saying goodbye to 15 years of my life, trying to deal with feeling betrayed and robbed of my dreams and facing a scary future on my own. The last thing I felt like doing was celebrating and I would never have contemplated throwing a parT-A-Y!

And you? Would you / did you throw a Divorce Party?

I’m not even sure exactly what it is. What happens at one of these things? Do you invite members of both sexes? Does everyone sit around and tell horrible stories about the ex? Is there an obscenely decorated cake? Do you all oggle at the framed divorce decree? Watch “The First Wives Club”? Burn all the old love letters and wedding pictures? Get pissed (that’s a given, I suppose). Sing spiteful breakup songs?

This is an interesting concept to me and thinking about it, I can see that for some people, a Divorce Party could be a cathartic experience – it could help close the chapter on a painful experience. But I’m not sure that I could do it. Each to his/her own I suppose …