happy breakups

As if the usual Monday doom wasn't depressing enough...I'm kicking off the week by blogging about breakups.

No wait, this one's gonna be happy.

Recently, while telling me about breakup, a friend offered the following disclaimer: "But it was a really clean split. They both felt really good about it."

I nodded in agreement while laughing inside. Lines like that mean that either one person is really good at hiding emotions, or the couple is going to keep hooking up casually without the label of "relationship."

But maybe I'm just being cynical. Maybe articles like this one -- instructions on how to be a "kindler, gentler breaker-upper" -- have made splitsville a more pleasant place.

Tell me: If everybody goes home happy, is it really a breakup?