FOMO

"Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the 'Titanic' who waved off the dessert cart." ~Erma Bombeck

How a case of FOMO in a lobby led me to a friend, and to a cause that helps women afford the legal help divorce requires

The Little Black Dress Party

A few years ago, on a warm late summer evening, I was walking through the lobby of my building in downtown Bellevue when three young women came laughing through the front doors. They were wearing darling black cocktail dresses, hair and makeup done to perfection, and they were clearly having the best night of anyone in the building.

Who wouldn't want to be part of that?

I didn't know a single one of them, and yet I found myself wishing I had been wherever they had just been. My ever-expanding curiosity got the better of me, so I asked. They told me they were coming from The Little Black Dress Party.

The what? I had never heard of it, and I was instantly certain I needed to go. Apparently, my FOMO (fear of missing out, for those of us who learned that acronym late) had taken the wheel. Surely there was a dress code I could meet.

It turned out the party was the brainchild of Kelly Fennelly, a woman I would come to know as a friend over the years, and someone who brings an abundance of compassion and kindness to everything she touches.

Years earlier, Kelly had gone through an extremely difficult divorce, and she had been systematically cut off from financial resources at the very moment she needed them most. Divorce is one of the hardest things a person can go through. Going through it without access to money is nearly impossible.

This is a story I lived as well. And I see it often in the women who come to me, women who want help and need help but feel frozen, with no way to pay for the first step forward.

Like so many of us, Kelly made it through with help from her own angels. Then she turned around and became one. She started The Little Black Dress Party as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that raises money for its Benevolent Fund, which helps pay legal fees for women and children who need it.

This year's party is a Wine and Whiskey tasting on Saturday, October 24th, from 5 to 7 PM, at Vault in Kirkland (223 10th St. South). You can learn more and find ways to help here: thelittleblackdressparty.org

I'm also proud to share that The Little Black Dress Party will be my nonprofit partner for my Divorce After 50 Summit on November 10th. Learn more here:

I still think about those three women laughing their way across that lobby. My FOMO was convinced I was missing a great party, and for once, my FOMO had excellent instincts. What it couldn't have known was that the party came with a woman I'd be lucky to call a friend, and a cause I had lived myself.

So if you happen to see a few women in black dresses laughing their way through a lobby on the evening of the 24th, now you'll know where they've been. And if the FOMO kicks in, I can tell you from experience, it's worth listening to.

Love and Light,

Copyright © 2026 Michele Heffron Life Strategist, All rights reserved.

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