the single girl gets off the couch

My best friend is an only child, raised by a single mom. For as long as she can remember, it's been just the two of them.

Next year, BFF's mom retires. And after she retires, she will move to Nebraska. She has already purchased a home there, close to her mother and her sisters. We live in California, no where near Nebraska.

BFF is understandably devastated. She isn't married and doesn't have kids, so when her mom leaves, BFF will be completely alone.

"I have to get out there and meet someone," BFF told me the other day. "You need to come with me and be my wing man."

"Two things," I replied. "One, we're in our 40's. Our days of club hopping are over. And two, I can't be your wing man. I'm married. It's not like I can just jet off to Vegas for the weekend."

"I need to get out of the house," BFF continued to complain. "I'm not going to meet anyone sitting on my couch. I'm turning in to a hermit."

"No, you're not. Sitting at home is completely normal. I don't go out, either. I wake up, I go to work, I come home."

"That's totally different. You have what you want at home. It's where your life is. I haven't found my life yet. I need to go out and look for it."

So, BFF actually made it out of the house. She went to Vegas last week. I called her as soon as she got home, because what happens in Vegas definitely does not stay in Vegas.

"So, did you meet anyone?" I asked, digging for gossip.

"Actually, I did."

The man she "met" was the 25-year-old bartender. And by "met," she apparently meant "was served by," since she never caught his name, or even had an actual conversation with him.

"So, did you actually think a bartender from Las Vegas, 15 years younger that you, who probably sees hundreds-- no, thousands-- of beautiful women every day, would count as 'meeting someone?'"

"At least I wasn't sitting on the couch."