I have a partner, but even family can only give or help in so many ways.

A few of my scattered gyrlfriends and I have always talked about living together in our later years with or without partners. It's a comfort to think various of us might be able to offer that to another. I feel this esp. as Rog smokes and really doesn't take very good care of his health, imo.

You might be surprised at just how much friends can/will do. About three years ago when I was in depression and we needed to move out of a bad situation, a Mudcatter made a very generous offer to Rog and me to come live where they were. It was a serious option until we figured a way to get out of our predicament on our own. It was a completely out of the blue offer and went straight to my heart. I will always be grateful for the very real LifeLine it represented.(I later found out, another Mudcatter had considered offering us something similar, but it wasn't to be, at the time.)

I think one suggestion might be, too, to subscribe to the Caretaker's Gazette and/or other pubs. which might list deliberate communities where one can work to purchase part of the land; share or not in common meals, etc. kind of like a commune. You might ask Bearheart (Bekki) about this, as I believe she has experience in this. It si my understanding that can be a lot of support, caregiving, etc. in such planned endeavours.

I envy your independence. My dependence scares me sometimes.

kat