Can you count on one hand how many really, really close friends you have.......

[a kennedy]

I don’t have any......used to have two, they both have died. Now I just have friends.......not close friends.

[Scrivener7]

1. Does family count?

I'm sorry you lost your friends.

[a kennedy]

2. Yes, yes, family counts......one of my best was my only sister in family of four brothers......

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. I have a few. They are those I can talk to about anything at all.

I don't think I have more than 5, but I'm not sure. I have a lot of friends who I'm close to, but not that close.

I am lucky in my friends!

I am so sorry that you lost your really close friends. That's a very tough and lonely place to be.

[a kennedy]

11. Thank you......and I always feel so lost......no one to talk to....no one to just hug me and say

it’ll be ok.

[LakeArenal]

4. You do have friends on DU.

Hope once you are able to be totally out and about some of those other friends get closer.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

5. Most people can count their really, really close friends on one hand ...

Honestly my three closest friends are my mom and my two brothers. And my dad was my CLOSEST friend, but lost him in 2019.

I have a few friends alive that USED to be really close friends but are now more just what I'd call friends, I don't talk to them all the time.

My ex-wife used to be one of my best friends too. Now she's barely a friend.

If you have ANYONE who'd take you in if you showed up with your suitcase and said you needed a place to stay indefinitely ... family OR friend ... you're in pretty good shape, IMHO.

Sorry for your loss, btw

[leftieNanner]

6. I'm so sorry a kennedy

Making new special friends as an older adult is not easy.

One of my closest friends is also a kennedy! I met her five or six years ago.

Don't give up hope. You never know when someone wonderful may come into your life.

[Croney]

7. Oh yes, one hand counts them with digits left over.

[RainCaster]

8. My wife and my dog

[Sherman A1]

9. Yes,

One and that is just fine.

[Biophilic]

10. Yes, I'm down to 1 and she moved a long way away when she retired.

I enjoy her partner also, but we aren't close. No, wait, I have a couple of friends in a close state - not easily drive able, but not close. So not it's hard to call them close friends as we don't talk very often. So one hand easily handles the "close" friends. The last year and a half has been particularly hard on friendships and the 4 years before that haven't helped. Good thing I have lots of memories of friends and those who cared about me and that I cared about. Rough going into old age (75) without much support, but not unusual in this day and age.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

12. I have about five really close friends.

As has been pointed out, it's very hard for adults, and even harder for older adults, to make friends. I mean, unlike kids we can't just knock on someone's door and ask, "Can you come out to play?" the way little kids can.

I am capable of being something of a loner, and I'm very aware of my inclination to isolate. One of the reasons I anticipate moving into independent/assisted living at some point will be very much for the social aspect.

[mitch96]

13. Four. Three are childhood friends (I'm 72) and one, coworker I've known for 30 something years..

The thing with them is I can be my self and they can be their selfs. We all know where the bodies are buried. They can be a jerk and It's ok cause.... well I can be a jerk too sometimes and we forgive our "transgressions"..
Somebody new? not so much...
m

[Piasladic]

14. sorry

I can count my closest friends on one finger; I'd be lost without him.

[Ron Obvious]

15. There was a study in the UK that asked the question

"How many people do you have in your life that you can really count on?"

Twenty years ago, the average came to just under 5.

More recently, the average had shrunk to less than 1. And that was before Covid...

This is all from memory, but I think it's accurate.