#birthday-girls

A staggering statistic

About once every two months, I meet up for lunch with a group of friends I name The Birthday Girls. As that suggests, we meet up around the time when one of us has a birthday. Not necessarily the same week as the birthday even, but close enough that we all have a common date free in our diary. There are ten of us altogether, although not all of us can manage all of the dates. On average there are about 7 or 8 of us at any one time. We know one another going back decades and first met when our children were at nursery age.  A few weeks ago saw such a meeting to celebrate L's birthday. She dropped the bombshell that she and her husband of over 30 years have just separated. About a month ago, another one announced she was separated from her long-term partner. It got me thinking that in our group: 3 are married still 3 of us are widows 4 are divorced or separated So in other words only 3 out of 10 are still in a relationship. That is quite a staggering statistic for such a small group