When Do You Go From “Divorced” To “Single”?

Recently, I used Google to pose this question, “When does the transition from ‘divorced’ to ‘single’ happen?” The answers I found were very interesting. Some message boards listed answers like: “As soon as the ink on your divorce agreement is dried”, or “Whenever you feel single, you are, even if you’re still married!”. Many people who have undergone divorce talk about the confusion they feel when trying to decide which box to check on all those forms we seem to encounter. They wonder if they should check: “Divorced”, or “Single” and feel unclear about what the best description would be…after all, if you are no longer married, you are technically single, right? Does the world need to know your private history, that you were married and are no longer so, based on checking off the “Divorced” box? Are each of us entitled to our privacy regarding our marital history or should we just be 100 percent accurate and consider “Divorced” to be the best answer unless we remarry? What do you think it takes to go from “divorced” to “single”?