Stumped

One of the doctors today asked me a question which stumped me for a few seconds before I managed to come up with a reasonable answer. He only asked about my status.. whether I'm married or single, seeing a boyfriend or a girlfriend (ceh!) so it wasn't a rocket-science question. But it was his directness and sudden deviation, considering that we were just busy minding our own businesses prior to the questioning that took me off-guard.

Well, I hate the word 'divorce' and 'divorcee' so I'm always lost for words when I get these types of questions, what's more when I'm least expecting it. Anyway, most of the time my answer will be 'used to be married' which I think is much better and more sophisticated (hehe..) than the word 'divorced' but it will frequently, more than not, followed by a few seconds of silence before the other party start to apologise.. sometimes even profusely! Sometimes it pissed me off when they apologised because I wouldn't know whether they were just sorry for asking or were they sorry that I 'used to be married' in that pity kind of way? Either way, they don't have to apologise or feel sorry for me since I definitely do not need their pity! Thank god, the doc who asked today didnt apologised and instead merrily invited me to join his A+E social activities... a positive change indeed!