I remarked to my wife that this woman had guts to sit by herself at a fashionable establishment, especially around New Year’s Eve when society says you’re supposed to be partying with friends and family. I know when I was single, I avoided eating out alone unless it was at a hamburger joint or diner and I could sit at the counter. At nicer places, I would feel too self-conscious and fear the stigma that I must be worthy of pity.

A recent story about the global rise in living solo says while countries like Sweden have the most number of singletons (47 percent), the countries where single person households are growing the fastest are Brazil, China and India. Living solo has usually been regarded as something profoundly abnormal, especially in a culture where a parent’s job is not done until the children are “settled,” ergo married. We like to think we were designed to live communally even if it’s in shared misery.