nolongerconfused-Maybe your wife doesn't want to deal with the inevitable questions she will get later: 'Why doesn't your husband come to meetings', 'How is your husband? We haven't seen him since the party', and the secret mumblings of 'If he can go to a party, he can come to meetings'.
When I was married to my first husband, people used to ask me all the time, "How is Dick? We miss him". I would try to come up with some excuse. Finally, I just answered truthfully, "He doesn't fee like coming" or "Why don't you tell him yourself you miss him? Our phone number is XXX-XXXX", the questions soon stopped, and nobody missed him enough to make an effor to call him. He was an ass, so I understand that. But their questioning put me in a very uncomfortable position of trying to make up something to make him look like he was too sick to come. Maybe your wife is getting those same questions now, and doesn't want to deal with more. You could always tell her to tell the truth to the inquiring people, "nolongerconfused doesn't feel like coming', it will cause the questioner to feel embarassed and they will stop asking for fear of getting a truthful answer.