It’s scary to meet new friends. And, a lot of times, whether it’s right or wrong, when you get a divorce, that’s exactly what you have to do. Whether he keeps the friends or you just suddenly don’t have anything in common with your married friends anymore, a lot of people tend to find that once they separate, they start looking for a group of friends with whom they share this new stage of life in common.
I mean, we all do that, right? Like, when we’re in college, we have college friends. As we partner up and get married and have kids, we tend to have friends who are in that stage of life, too. As more and more of us get married up, it seems we have fewer and fewer single friends. It’s not personal, it’s just that it’s hard to feel like you have much in common with people in such a different stage of life.
With divorce, I think it’s similar. It’s such a profound and dramatic change that your married friends have a hard time understanding and relating. It’s natural to look for other friends who understand and have been where you’re sitting. It’s only human to want to feel that kind of support.
But, when you’re not in school, making those kinds of connections can be more difficult than it used to be. After all, if not at school, where do you even meet new friends? Work is difficult, especially if you’re not in a women-driven profession; besides, you’ve probably already made the friends you’re going to make there, and they may or may not fall into the right marital category to help provide you with the support you’re needing right now.
That’s why we created the Girl’s Night Out event series; over and over again, we’ve heard this complaint, that women facing divorce and custody cases really need support from other similarly situated women. Support that, frankly, their happily married friends just aren’t able to provide – no offense to them, of course. It’s a tough position to be in, and its kind of a unique thing. It’s hard to relate to people who are in a totally different phase of life, and there’s definitely a need to find new people to relate to and discuss your experiences with.
We offer our Girl’s Night Out events at different venues across Hampton Roads. Every other month or so, we have a new event in a cool new (or tried and true) venue, all designed to be awesome for a women only group. We’ve done all sorts of cool things – comedy clubs, happy hours, hay rides, movie premiers (now, that was pretty awesome!), but probably what we like best is just an opportunity to get together with friends and catch up. It’s usually pretty low key, and our motto is always “the more the merrier” – so if you’ve got a (female!) friend, neighbor, coworker, or family member that you’d like to bring along, go ahead. We’ve got room!
I hope you’ll consider joining us! It’s a really fun group, and definitely worth your time. And who knows? You might meet your future BFF. For more information or to register to attend, visit our website by clicking here.