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Even if it's just the assurance that someone is there to answer questions when I'm struggling!

I have found it difficult to maintain. Over the years, a group of us got together locally. I was very close with a couple of them, but after a while it seems one by one they went on their own way, and didn't want to take me with them, lol... Maybe it is something with me, or perhaps homesteading is populated by loners. Honestly, all I ever did was try to be a true friend. It's a real sadness for me.

That is hard. I don't like to view people as transactions, but often times, the only time you end up talking to someone is when one of you needs something. Lives get busy, and people move on. It doesn't get easier, I don't think. I also don't believe I could keep up with that many people forever. I try to just hold on to the few people that I do maintain a relationship with and let the others move on with their lives.

It's sad. Our modern era is so isolating. It's like we're all on separate trains waiving at one another as we travel by. I am only in my fifties, but even I remember it being different.