Me After We
Candles flicker, Champagne flows, glasses clink, and friends lean in close over the rustic wood table to share a toast. This group of smiling, laughing diners at French Alpine Bistro isn’t celebrating a birthday or anniversary, though. They’re honoring a different kind of milestone: “Me After We.”
Striking out solo after being part of a couple, team, or workgroup can be scary. Anxiety, sadness, doubt, fear, and loneliness are natural emotions that tend to accompany this kind of major life shift. When a marriage dissolves or kids fly the nest or you’ve quit a job to start your own business or plan to move away, though, one thing is certain: Life marches on. Change can be therapeutic, and independence can feel…invigorating.
In the case of a recent divorcée or first-time sole proprietor: Why not fête the fact that you’re single and thriving? Throw a freedom party and relish the opportunity to focus on yourself among loved ones.
French Alpine Bistro (FAB) invites you to celebrate the occasions that, traditionally, don’t involve parties, but are worth saluting nonetheless. While birthdays, weddings, and baby showers mark new beginnings and positive periods of optimism—a new year, new marriage, new life—our personal stories contain multitudes of unanticipated messages and experiences with unexpected endings.
“When you tell people that you got divorced, everyone says, ‘Oh, I’m sorry,’” says FAB owner Karin Derly. “However, for most people, the finality is a good thing, once it’s done and over. When one of my friends got divorced 15 years ago, I bought her flowers. She still talks about it to this day.”
Perhaps life is cruising along blissfully, without any major stressors: death, injury, layoff, retirement. Why not treat your friends to a soirée to demonstrate your gratitude for their continued friendship and support? FAB can provide curated playlists for the occasion and create a namesake cocktail with a favorite spirit (think: “The Joanna”) to savor while dancing the night away.
“When you tell people that you got divorced, everyone says, ‘Oh, I’m sorry.’ However, for most people, the finality is a good thing, once it’s done and over.”
- Karin Derly
As an added touch, we invite you to bring mementos from past relationships—pictures, letters, cards, ticket stubs, notes, papers—to use as fuel in our outdoor fire pit. Then, raise a glass while watching keepsakes of those times go up in flames. Make it a night to remember: Let the bubbles flow, dance with abandon, create warm memories, and forecast a fabulous future.
“Change rocks us, and what we thought we knew about ourselves,” notes FAB Events Director Jaimie Atkinson, who threw a bittersweet farewell when she moved to the UK. “The portrait we had of ourselves in our minds will change. The opportunity is that it could be a ‘butterfly’ moment!”
Even if you hold fond recollections of the past, it’s constructive to acknowledge the valid reasons for a new direction in your story. After turning a page, you’re ready to write the next chapter: Me After We.
Make a reservation today. FAB is in full swing, and we welcome you to celebrate your life changes and new beginnings.
