Hello everyone:

The holidays are approaching and now is the time to start thinking about what you will do for holiday dinners. It has been my experience that newly-single women are not as likely as single men to be invited over for dinner. One of my recently-bereaved friends told me that he has four different families who want him to join them for Thanksgiving. When I was a newly-divorced gal, there were no invitations.

What can be done about this? If you are the male I just mentioned, you have a choice between families. If you are female, you probably don’t, so I suggest you find other gals in a similar situation and invite them over for a potluck lunch or dinner. When I went through my time of single parenthood, I was the only divorcee I knew. These days, with more marriages breaking up, finding dinner companions might not be so hard.

Who can you invite? Women from your place of worship, women from work that you get along with, and gals from your neighborhood. Since women’s incomes are traditionally lower than when they were married, you might try a potluck, rather than putting out the expense of paying for the entire dinner yourself.

If this does not sound plausible to you- maybe your home is small or you are uncomfortable asking folks you do not know well to share a meal- perhaps you could volunteer at a shelter in your area.  I hope you have a lovely Thanksgiving, no matter what you decide to do.

Best,

Sheri