If you’re a boomer like me, you may have noticed certain changes and adjustments are taking place in our daily lives to accommodate the vagaries of aging. The obvious ones like nixing trendy shoes for more comfortable footwear are a given. We no longer party like we used to in favour of going to bed earlier—and in our own bed. We’re becoming our parents whether we like it or not.

COVID seems to have hastened this social decline. After being confined to quarters for two years, we got lazy. We entertain less (why bother with all that work?) and instead we prefer to eat out, meet friends in a local restaurant and let someone else do the cooking and cleanup. Restaurant prices have increased substantially over the last couple of years, but we deserve to treat ourselves once in a while.

Have you noticed that instead of dining out at the fashionable hour of 7:00 p.m. or later, we now opt for lunch out instead? Several age-related issues influence this decision. Much as we hate to admit it, most of us have difficulty seeing properly when driving after dark. Our eyesight isn’t as sharp and adaptive as it once was. We are also concerned about being safe in vast parking lots late at night or being struck by impaired drivers who are still of the age that likes to drink or imbibe various pharmaceutical substances. We’re more sensitive to risk exposure.

Most restaurants also have more affordable lunch menus that put less stress on our senior wallets. And, if the portions are as large as we hope, we’ll have enough to doggie-bag it for supper later. There’s also usually not as much pressure at lunchtime to vacate our table to make room for waiting customers so we can linger longer. After all, we don’t have to be back at the office . . . or anywhere for that matter. Yay!

At first, we were slightly embarrassed to suggest lunch instead of dinner when going out with friends but we discovered they’re totally on board. The restaurants are less busy so we don’t have to wait an hour at the bar for a table, and we save money. We get to drive home in daylight, and we still get to watch our favourite programs on TV in the evenings before going to bed early.

Delivery services like Uber Eats and DoorDash have also made dining out at home a breeze if we fancy a weeknight feast of Chinese or Italian food. The nice driver brings it right to our door, and again, we have plenty of leftovers for the next day. Meeting at a friend’s home and ordering a large buffet of food to be shared over lovely bottles of Pinot Grigio and Cabernet is a wonderful way to spend an evening, any day of the week.

If you’re thinking about inviting a boomer to dinner, consider lunch instead. It just works better for so many reasons and we won’t be keeping you up past your bedtime. If you’re still working and this isn’t convenient for you, well, you will be like us one day and understand once you retire. There’s no shortage of other boomers who are adapting to new lifestyles more in line with our preferences. So, no one is coming to dinner. It’s not personal; it’s just more practical.