O/T: Its a drag getting old, All my friends and Family have Passed.

[JRouche]

Except for my Mom and Sister. Everyone else is off the map. Friends? I suggest dont doining that. They are also not around.

[Paul Alciatore]

Well, I still have my two brothers, but I am about 5 years the elder. My wife died about a year and a half ago. My father in WWII and my step father some years ago. I do feel like the last man standing. Or at least the oldest. My son lives with me, but is not much company for me. Not a bad lad, but different ages and interests.

And like you, my mother is still with us. She is 102 but in California while I am in Texas.

I try to keep busy.

[JRouche]

Well, I still have my two brothers, but I am about 5 years the elder. My wife died about a year and a half ago. My father in WWII and my step father some years ago. I do feel like the last man standing. Or at least the oldest. My son lives with me, but is not much company for me. Not a bad lad, but different ages and interests.

And like you, my mother is still with us. She is 102 but in California while I am in Texas.

I try to keep busy.

5 years more so? Prob;ly so, you are old as dust right LOL My people started dying way back when, My Dad, gonzo. 12 yo.. jr

[Baz]

Unless you are naturally an obnoxious person it is easier than you might think to make friends. You just need to get over the difficulty of first going through the door of a club of some sort. A community run as opposed to commercial coffee shop is a good one as you can typically sit at a communal table. Unless they are obviously a family looking self obsessed they will welcome a new person to talk to. Don't be afraid of churches just try a few to find one that has a good post-service coffee culture and don't worry about the religion bit as it is only about 10% of the activity and is just something to hang the social side off of.
It helps a lot to volunteer to help with things even if it is only putting away the tables in the village hall after an event.
I am a member of two model engineering clubs, a Men's Shed, a free concert group, a church, and go to several community cafes. The problem is remembering all the names of my friends these days as they say you can really only relate to about 200 people at once.

[RB211]

Pick a hobby and join a club. Live Steam is a good one since you all have machinist skills.

[RSG]

All my family and friends are alive and well so I guess I can't relate! One thing about my hobby of reel making is I have more friends then I need.....😄

[metalfixer]

There is still a few more weeks of Lent, stop by a fish fry at a church, or as a fellow veteran, a VFW or American Legion.
If you are still in good health, offer to help in the kitchen or dining hall, or just enjoy a good meal and meet with people.
Larry

[burdickjp]

Find the neareset makerspace and start going to their meetings. I cannot express enough how much I appreciate sitting and talking to folks at the makerspace. The memberships span generations, skills, and interests, but all intersect with the idea of sharing.

[Bob Engelhardt]

[...]I do feel like the last man standing. [...]

I have this simile of life: it's like a parade going down the street, with everyone in it. Your family the nearest, friends close, etc. It starts out with you at the back & older ones in front, the more older, the more in front. At some point, people in front start leaving ... it might be an elderly neighbor a first, but then a grandparent, and some distance from you a celebrity whose leaving is news. At the point where your parents leave it is apparent that you are much closer to the front of the parade. And then you are the front, with very few people around you & all of the same generation. There are many missing though: siblings, cousins, friends. The last man walking.

[Commander_Chaos]

I stopped looking people up on Facebook. They've been consistently dead since I was in my 40s. Of course that's not surprising based on the crowd I hung with back then.

[Peter N]

Lost both my parents when I was 19, my wife 8 years ago, my only brother 2 years ago, and my 3 very best friends all went in the last 10 years. And I'm only 61, that's not even old.
Yeah, it sucks

[David Powell]

Many years ago, when I came to Canada I made friends with an elderly model engineer and his wife. Gradually his friends died off , then his wife
. He never gave up enjoying inviting others to visit him, never stopped helping newcomers to the hobby He did sometimes lament that his long term friends had passed, and that he was indeed, last man standing of the old group.
We were his last visitors at the hospice
My wife of 30 yrs died just 8 yrs ago, I have remarried and made a new life, But I do often feel the loss of those who I have outlived,
Regards David Powell

[darryl]

Parents all gone, sister gone, two brothers gone, many friends who didn't make 50. And being a music lover, I'm struck everytime we lose another one. Jeff Beck is one of the latest, Susan Jacks, who I met decades ago, and was set to meet again just a few months ago- she's gone. Keith Richards- well I don't know what to say about that. He might outlive me. Only one of my band mates is still around. I thought I was a goner today, but I still live. Just got back from 5 hrs in the hospital.

My outlook has pretty strongly turned to making the best of it while I'm still here. This is the strongest 'go for it' that I've ever felt. I've got a strong urge to honor those personal musician friends that have passed, as well as those others who I liked, and want to honor by doing some classy covers of their songs. In this spirit, I now have written, and will sing, a Doors type song- sort of a cross between Jim Morrison and Bob Dylan. My engineer, who has just lost his wife, ( and I another friend), has turned my idea for the music into the actual music. We honor all those who have passed by being bold and doing our best while we are still around.

[Lew Hartswick]

This thread is just too depressing to respond to.
...lew... a 90 1/2 with all the people I know 2000 miles away.

[JRouche]

Unless you are naturally an obnoxious person it is easier than you might think to make friends. You just need to get over the difficulty of first going through the door of a club of some sort. A community run as opposed to commercial coffee shop is a good one as you can typically sit at a communal table. Unless they are obviously a family looking self obsessed they will welcome a new person to talk to. Don't be afraid of churches just try a few to find one that has a good post-service coffee culture and don't worry about the religion bit as it is only about 10% of the activity and is just something to hang the social side off of.
It helps a lot to volunteer to help with things even if it is only putting away the tables in the village hall after an event.
I am a member of two model engineering clubs, a Men's Shed, a free concert group, a church, and go to several community cafes. The problem is remembering all the names of my friends these days as they say you can really only relate to about 200 people at once.

Great advise. I was just thinking about the friends directly on my street. We all (bout 15 homes) moved in at the same time 23 years ago. Of the men, seven have passed within that time. Just seems a lil coincidence, they were all under 65 cept for one that was mid 90s.

Kinda morbid topic I know, sorry. JR