As you get older do you find it hard to make friends?

Let me define friendship before you answer. A "Friend" is someone you can call at 3am in the morning for bail money, and they won't ask why, they'll just show up with the cash.





The friends I have, I've had for decades, and as I get older I find it more difficult to build real friendships with people I meet. Do you find that this is true in your own life?

As you get older do you find it hard to make friends?
Liar! Sheesh......you were as easy to make friends with as.....uhm..well... my pet pig!





I think I'm the opposite. As I've gotten older, I make friends much easier. Basically because all insecurities go out the window with age. I'm not afraid to talk to most anyone and definitely not afraid to stand up for myself. When karma gives me a hard time.......I just call her a putz, kiss her cheek and then go on. Seee? how easy is that?? But I think other than in high school, I have more friends now than any other time in my life. You just grow and learn how to be yourself. And with that......well....it all just sorta happens. Take care!
Reply:yes, much harder. I would love to make new true friends all the time, but most people are standoffish.
Reply:Zed's is hard to beat, he stays up late eating frog legs and thinking of great answers, a real thinker he is.





I have had three best friends, one died, one got mad at me because I fired her boyfriend (a builder) and hired a better outfit to build my house, the third was my friend for 20 years, she lives accross the street , we haven't spoke for the last 10 years. I think she is mad at me.





My mother and father are my best friends. They are the only ones that would bale me out of jail at 300am, loan me thousands of dollars, love me even if I did the most horrid thing in the world. THey proved it a few times too.





Also my parents are the only ones who would/could be trusted with a secret like I ran someone over with my car or RV. Or killed a neighbor goat.
Reply:Yes, I find as we get older and smarter we also put up more fences and it is hard to let people in. I have found it especially hard as I moved to a very transient city in my early twenties and friends moved away all the time. Our old friends from back home are all scattered too and it's hard to stay in touch.


It is especially hard to find couple friends. You know another couple to go to dinner with or invite over so we do what we can. Luckily my husband is my bestest buddy too and a very good sort.
Reply:Yes, to a certain degree. In all fairness, the older we get the more "stuff" there is to snag our time. Thus, unlike when we were in our 20's, we don't have as much time to expend on nurturing new friendships. And as someone else said, we become better at selecting who to use the time we have left, on.





But it is nice, that every blue moon, one can still trip across someone with whom you can click with almost instantaneously... ** waves at Thelma **
Reply:Absolutely.
Reply:"REAL" friendships - is there really such a thing? I've been trying all my life and have NOT found "a single one" yet. ...You seem like a decent human being - may I borrow some bail money? I accidentally ran over an old "acquaintance" with my RV. :-)
Reply:Extremely.
Reply:yes
Reply:I agree. It seems to me that when I was younger I explored more. I talked to a greater variety of people. Now I talk with my friends and my co-workers, hence some of my co-workers have become friends.





I also find that I am happier just staying home by myself than I used to be.
Reply:Well, being that I am 103, most of my friends are dead. I have started to date a man of 47 tho, and his friends are pretty neato. See they have me saying neato, isn't that neato? *cough* Excuse me, I must get back to my oxygen tent.
Reply:I don't know. I am 34 and have just gained a friend who fits that description. I don't seem to have a problem finding friends on a one on one basis, its groups I have a hard time with. It is harder, though. People have their baggage and their lives and most have it the way they want it and don't have room for someone new.
Reply:I think we just choose them wiser as we mature. Also, time is a factor. I could spend hours visiting with friends a few years back. But now, I have kids, have to get dinner on, have to meet someone at this time, have to take this kid to football, this one to dance and the other to basketball. I have one dear, dear friend in my life. We have been friends for 23 years now. I know if in a jam, I'd call her and she'd call me if reversed.
Reply:Yes! Its not so much that I have a difficult time making friends; it just that the older I become the fewer people I meet that I would want to be friends with.