need a friend

Somehow we are now getting down to the fact that for a lot of women their mothers are/were their greatest friend. Perhaps this is too much to ask of a friend to love us unconditionally and to understand us like a good mother does.
I adored my mother and was always worried that something would happen to her in the awful fights she had with my father. I no longer apportion blame but I did when I was younger.
I decided to bring my daughters up to live their lives not tied to my opinion of them. I have done this too well! Neither regards me as a friend and one has little understanding of me and what I think is important. They always knew that I was safe with their father and they didn't have to worry like I did.

But I do have a lovely friend and we were in our 40s when we met. We are both from England and when we met had a houseful of teenagers. We had so many problems in common, our conversations used to last for hours, when our children met up in the school yard they used to joke about it.
Now we are both retired and really look forward to our regular afternoon teatime together. We don't want to retire to anywhere else and looking ahead we want to stay where we are only a few bus stops from each other.

expat what a lovely story I have a very good friend who lives in Glasgow (I live on Wirral opposite Liverpool)sometimes we don't speak or e-mail for weeks at a time but when we do it just like we spoke yesterday,we met when we both moved abroad and used to meet up every afternoon when we had finished work for the day,I would leave mr.glamma at the restaurant as he stayed open for drinks to be served 3/4 hrs after I had finished cooking my friend and I would sit for an hour or maybe two people watching whilst enjoying coffee/brandy at our favourite Spanish bar,we put the world to rights nearly every day never getting bored with each others company.

expatmaggie and

hello im new and i need new friends to talk to im a widdow and very lonley

A very big welcome to you veva

Hello, veva, and welcome to gransnet. Keep dropping in and having a chat.

veva Come on in and talk to us. There are many caring people on this forum.

Welcome Viva - keep posting so that everyone can get to know you. Sorry to hear of your loneliness.

Hello and welcome, veva - you'll always find something on here to join in on. You are not alone!

veva welcome. you will soon find lots of friendly people here.

Welcome veva , sorry to hear that you are lonely but you have come to the best place. There is someone here most of the time to chat to. Have a look around the threads and you will find something that will catch your eye.

veva What a place to drop into if you are lonely you will soon be chatting to all and sundry about all sorts of topics, we have virtual parties and sing-songs so you will never be lonely just drop in when you want to chat,looking forward to seeing you.

Come in, Veva, the water's fine! Would you like to tell us a little about yourself? We might be able to help you feel less lonely.

Hello Veva. Pleased to meet you.

Hi veva

Hello veva you are now with friends! xx

Hello veva a welcoming

Hi veva - Hope you can join us all in our chats.

Hello veva and welcome to the Gransnet community.

Hello and welcome veva

Taps on door, may I come in too?
I am a long time lurker at GN, but as I live in Australia have always been hesitant to join in. Until today when I came across this thread, and discovered that others share my difficulties in making friends.
I too have a husband with mental health issues, and no inclination to do much about them so, despite living in a large city, we are a very isolated.
Until my retirement [I was a palliative care nurse in a teaching hospital] I was always surrounded by people, and thought making friends would not be a problem when I left.
Things haven't worked out that way and I find myself in the same predicament as many of you describe.
Fortunately, I enjoy my own company, so am not desperately lonely, but miss my work colleagues with whom I worked with for many years. Despite many overtures, I have found making new friends to be well nigh impossible We moved to be closer to the city centre and all that it offers, but I find now that, unless I go out on my own I rarely go near them.
I have recently had to stop driving, which restricts me even more.
Reading here today I thought - one more try, even though you are all thousands of miles away. I was born & worked in England until we moved here, so am familiar with your world.
If I may I would love to join you..

Of course you may Kate2012! Welcome to GN.

Hello Kate2012 and welcome

We are many and varied as you will have already noticed and we share a joke or two. We also share the great and low moments of our lives sometimes, and the support on here is HUGE!

Occasionally we have "parties", which are to be "read" to be believed!!

You are among friends x x

Kate hello, good to hear from you, of course you can join us There are lots of us that do find it difficult to form relationships once we have moved out of the workplace.
I am please you have taken the step from lurker to poster.
As you will have seen there is always someone around to have a chat to, so now you have taken the plunge you have made lots of new friends here on Gransnet

You are very welcome, Kate ! There are others here on GN who live in Australia, France and elsewhere in the world - distance is no object with the wonders of the internet .