If you don't like winter, move to the tropics. But be prepared for the never ending bugs. Winter kills the bugs or at least makes them go dormant and gives us a break from them.

May I suggest joining BFS group to find that friend? Bible Study Fellowship groups meet all over the U S and connecting with other women of similar ages will give you a healthy push toward forming those bonds. You can find a group online. It’s non denominational.

I wish we were close in area Patricia, we are the same age and I am the same way. Divorced for nearly 20 yrs and just doing fine. I pulled up stakes and moved to Michigan 2 yrs ago to be closer to my only child who just turned 51 . I dont worry about age, I dont have time. I left a dear friend in FL and miss her terribly and cant seem to find a connection.

maybe today I will bump into her somewhere.”

Yes!! I have known the best of friends a few times in my life. It happened once
for less than a gathering minute, at a bus stop, after I’d finished my day of window-dressing and wiring hems into raincoats to bring them to life. I was casually waiting for my own bus, an unremarkable day, but warm and pleasant, without the shadow of any loss.

I was glancing at the people accumulating, seeing bodies and colours in a way
I like to rest my vision to notice: shapes and colours, empty spaces and forms, and not be overrun with the details of edges. I saw her waiting for her bus,
saw her for mere moments. About fifteen feet away. I was forty years younger than I am today, but I recall the wash of an unknown joy lighting me up. The camera of my eyes zoomed to select her, and framed her the way you might know a dear friend from the inside, inside to inside, not really seeing how
she looks, or the superficial details of presentation in a world of ‘window dressing’. I recognized her, is the best way to express it. As if we had shared entire lives, in some other place, and had agreed to meet, some future time,
just in passing. As a sign. And with this rush of Grace and Love,
it was as if we’d ‘found’ one another, out of the entire galaxy, we did it! just for these moments. And it was everything. It was more than enough.

I silently breathed something to her, some wordless stumble, like, I love you!
as she stepped onto the bus. Would never have thought to move an inch, to attempt or want more.

Another time, I looked up, a cafe window was sinking into that espresso-dark richness of the light leaving day, after writing some few words in my journal,
and marvelled — it was all too quick for words, it more fit the idea of a download...I looked up at the exact instant a woman passed the window,
with some layers of clothing vaguely streaming, brought to life by her pace
and the evening breeze. Unremarkable, you might be thinking! But again, Something! This was perhaps twenty years on from that earlier moment.
In that brief flash, without noting anything about her really other than the emanation itself of her appearing, having appeared, something pre-ordained flowered in me, or out of me. I struggled to find any words to tell myself what this was, to be able to write it down. And finally, I named what she did, when she passed, was tell my heart, (this is) “the everything included.” And I have been growing, *oldening* into this.

I am 75, one of my 2 very best friends is 22. I met her when I was 70, she was 18. We have many wonderful adventures together, from kayaking, white water rafting, cycling and hiking. we share a deep faith in God. She tells everyone I am her best friend and how much she loves me! So it is NEVER too late to meet and develop a close friend. She assures me that she will be with me forever! And I believe her.