Ask Amy: Wedding exclusion would continue estrangement
If you invite Anna, there is some likelihood that she will decline to attend, but at least you would have opened the door.
Dear Amy: My friend “Sarah” has recently entered into a serious relationship with “Bradley.” Before this relationship, we often planned and took “girl trips,” along with other women friends.
Boyfriends and husbands have never accompanied us on these vacations.
Now, Sarah wants to include Bradley when we go on these vacations.
This is causing a divide within the group.
I know that she is excited by this new man in her life and the whole group is happy for her.
Is it unreasonable to ask her to leave Bradley out of our travel plans?
– Wandering Women
Dear Wandering: I receive enough questions about “girls’ and guys’ trips” that I found myself wondering if they are a recent phenomenon, but I believe these gendered experiences have actually been around in various forms for a long time (when I was young, my mother and her sisters went on trips – with kids – but without husbands).
I believe it is legitimate and reasonable to continue to plan an experience which has a specific character and purpose.
...continued
