I feel the same ways some days. I have a son who lives real close to me and we are very close but still I miss the ringing of the phone. I try to stay busy but some days it isn't what I need. Hope you have a good day today. Betty jo

It's really when you get to the age when the first thing you check in the daily newspaper is the obituaries.

I must admit that I do check the obituaries everyday.

Leaving ones "home land" and going as far away as I have, you really don't get to feel sorry for yourself for being alone.

I put myself here.

I also go out of my way to meet new people, and make new friends, where ever I move to.

Well, at least I started once I got good enough for people to understand me, despite my foreign accent. :)

I have old friends, in past towns I lived in, new friends I made here, cycling friends all over the world, and family all over the world.

But I only have a husband and one daughter in this town, and a second daughter and son in law in the USA. On his side of the family there is a brother and a sister in the same state, and another sister in Georgia. They are not close at all.

As I am getting older, it has actually gotten easier to make new friends. Go figure!

Moni

Maybe I'm at a different stage of 'old', but I find I have more and more and more friends and family. Yes, we've lost a few of the old folks over the past few years, but they've been replaced many times over by the babies. And friends? We seem to still keep in touch with those who have moved away, but new ones keep entering our 'orbit'. Every year, I buy more presents and send more Christmas cards.

My mom used to tell me she didn't want a funeral, because 'no one would come' and 'All my friends are dead'. I'd answer that she needed to get out and make new friends--she lived in a lovely senior apt, with so many, many nice people. And you know what? Her funeral (they're for the living, I ended up chosing to disregard a request that I wasn't really sure was that serious to start with) was attended by SO many people. There were still so many who knew and loved her, and wanted to pay their respects.

I think, sometimes, we have more friends than we realize.

My mother was the last of her generation in her family and she always said she was "the last leaf left on the tree." She died at age 96.

Same here - my best friend (husband) died a year ago this April, and I retired from my job a month and a half ago - I was SO BORED and SO LONELY.

I joined the local Senior Citizen's Center, and WOW - what a great bunch of people! They are all older than me by a few years, but we laugh and have a great time. They offer lots of classes at the Senior Center - I am taking painting lessons (watercolor and acrylic), and am so enjoying it! Try to find an elder-center in your area.

My family is like an onion, existing in layers that get peeled away. When I was born, i had one Grandmother living, but quite a few of her siblings and cousins. They have all passed. My Dad died ten years ago, Mom is the last of that generation. I will soon be at the outer edge of the onion.

Know how you feel jannie, my Mother is the last of her generation and I am next, lovely.

I agreee with Kayjones join the senior center~~that is where all of the peppy folks are:)

My mom passed away at the age of 66, 2 years ago. Holidays just aren't the same, and my dad the year before that had a heart attack, when they took him off bypass he suffered numerous strokes. He is now in the nursing home. We use to have a huge family to, my mom was one of 11 kids, now only 2 survive, and they are in their 80's. I have a daughter, but she doesnt get to come home but about every 3 years or so, I have 5 grandkids also. They all live in Indianna.
I think though I miss family gatherings and stuff more at speacial holidays, its hard not to think back just a few short years ago, when we were all together.

I don't hear from my kids on the phone...but I guess I'm blessed to have them so close...

The will all be here in about an hour....We are having a late dinner...and an egg hunt for the kids that will probably the last...the youngest is 9...well...I guess the next generation has already started...so maybe not...our great grandson will be here today...He is 1 1/2. He'll have fun finding eggs laying all over the grass...lol

I can just see his little short legs out there running to pick them up.

Happy Easter all

patti

I'm afraid I've been remiss in keeping up with Friends and Family lately. I'm sure they would call more often, if I kept in closer contact.

Gayle

My mother had lost almost all her friends, either to moves or passing. We bugged her for several years as we saw her becoming more hermit-like, to join a class, especially an exercise class. She finally did and it was subsidized by Kaiser so she had no excuse. She has loved it and made more friends; it really is the highlight of her week. Is there any place near you that might offer classes, either exercise or other?

I'm in that group too.

I am the last surviving of nine brothers and sisters, and my parents have been gone for many years. I have 3 nieces I keep in touch with, all in other states. My DS lives in SC and is involved with his family there, so he comes home less and less. My DD lives about five miles away and we talk a lot on the phone and she comes to see me almost ever Sunday.

My good friends are like me, old and decrepit. We keep in touch with phone and/or email. New friends are my neighbors here at the Retirement Community. They are mostly also "old and decrepit" and we "don't get around much anymore".

Years ago I was delivering Meals on Wheels and one dear 90-something year old lady wanted us to stay and visit. She said she gets so lonesome. I mentioned that she could call up her friends and at least talk to them. She said, "Call them up? Give me a shovel and I can dig them up!" She at least still has her sense of humor.

Sue

The older I get, the more I realize that love never dies. Those people who love me and have passed away still love me. And they're still there for me. I can't call my Mom up on the phone, but I can sit quietly and still hear her cracking a joke about something that's bothering me. My old friends are still there, in that moment of silence. Even my dear SIL who died in '84 at 29 is STILL there whenever I sit down for a few minutes with her. Love NEVER dies. Bodies die, but their spirits live forever. They're still there for you. . . .

Hi everyone,

I've said for years, including around here, that we should keep making new friends.

Quite a number ask why they need to do that - that they have friends, now.

To which I reply that current friends keep moving away, getting Alzheimer's or becoming otherwise incapacitated - or dying.

That most of us want connections with others, we humans being more or less pack animals. Like dogs.

And I laugh and say that the problem disappears - when we're the one with the name in the obit column!

I hope that you find some new vision of life and opportunity in this post-Easter week.

ole joyful