This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
When I got married (shortly after the Louisiana Purchase), the possibility that I might one day get divorced never even occurred to me. Perhaps I wasn't thinking hard enough. That's always been a problem.
I went into my marriage knowing it would require some adjustments. I'd already agreed to no shooting in the house and no more motorcycles, and that she would be in charge of the finances.
For some people, these would be deal-breakers. I didn't even blink. I had finally met the one person in the entire world who stood a chance of making me behave just by telling me to — and who incidentally was beautiful, smart and gracious.
This doesn't mean that we haven't had our problems. I've done stuff since then. Expensive, rude and downright stupid stuff. She's committed a few crazy things herself, most of them so utterly responsible that they were impossible for me to comprehend.
Through it all, I guess my wife and I stayed together because we value our love/tolerance for each other over even our major differences.
Not everyone is this lucky. There are as many reasons to divorce as there are married couples — abuse, infidelity, addiction, religion, loss of shared values, etc. Bringing home a live rattlesnake is pretty close.
Apparently even politics are grounds for divorce. According to a Reuters news report, a woman left her husband because he voted for Donald Trump.
"It totally undid me that he could vote for Trump," said retired California prison guard Gayle McCormick, 73, who had never before thought of leaving her conservative Republican husband but felt "betrayed" by his support for Trump.
"I felt like I had been fooling myself," she said. "It opened up areas between us I had not faced before. I realized how far I had gone in my life to accept things I would have never accepted when I was younger."
Getting divorced because of a presidential election outcome is rather petty. It couldn't have been the only reason. It would take an already-broken relationship for someone to list as grounds for divorce "the democratic process."
There are challenges in a relationship. I MIGHT temporarily separate from my wife if she tried to kill me in my sleep or served liver for dinner, but I certainly wouldn't leave her over something as insignificant as a president.
According to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll, the election of Donald Trump has strained a lot of relationships. Relatives have stopped speaking to one another, lifelong relationships have ended, and people on social media sites have been "unfriended" just because their name is "Don" or "Hillary."
Post-election behavior just like this is what led Americans to permanently "unfriend" a million other Americans with cannonballs and bayonets 160 years ago. That was really smart of us.
We're at it again. Our new Civility War goes like this: "I like X" to "That's not very smart" to "What do you know about it?" to "You're stupid" to "[Deleted] you!" in under a minute.
But what do I know about political strife? I'm the only person in my marriage who can legally vote. My wife isn't even an citizen. In fact, she's an immigrant. I got her from Canada.
I don't care what some president says, she's not going back. And if you think otherwise, then [deleted] you.
Wow, that was quick.
Robert Kirby can be reached at rkirby@sltrib.com or facebook.com/stillnotpatbagley.