It showed on my messages but without any words from you.

Interestingly, one of my nom-de-plumes for Facebook is wandereronce. I used that when I was hoping to find a replacement for my beloved wife. I gave up looking about 3 years ago. I'm getting to be far too old!

@rogerbenham The ways of Aggie messages are weird. My "real" name is not "Gwendolyn," but it is my name of choice. How I came by it is not a long story, but I will refrain from boring you. I have no desire for a partner at this stage in my life. An occasional lunch date would be nice, but I don't meet anyone suitable where I live in MO.

@Gwen_Wanderer I somewhat solved loneliness by renting out three separate places on my land. I charge way below local town rents as it is the people I want, not the hassle. But it nearly doubles my Canada Old Age pension. The longest renter would like to be here for a long time as she very much associates coming here as a child and learning from my wife. She calls me uncle. Since I quit employment when I was 33, my life with my three wives was a full time affair, not half my life dedicated to employment. Thus the aspect especially of my third wife that I most miss was the constant company and certainty. The walks, the quiet evenings, the shared activities, reading many books to her! It would be a hard task for any to fill!

@rogerbenham I don't get lonely, but I do get bored on occasion. I have had my granddaughter three days a week this summer and I pick her up from school three days a week. She is better company than most adults.

I felt more alone when I was married (25 years) and in a live-in relationship (seven years) than I have ever felt living alone--and I have lived alone for over 17 years. I do not think I could adjust to living with someone again.

However, when I cut back on the number of classes I teach and then, stop teaching, the boredom factor will be stronger. I might find someplace to volunteer. I would get a part-time job, but after working online for over a decade, I think conforming to someone else's time schedule would be quite limiting.

I can't quilt 12 hours a day!

@Gwen_Wanderer You live in a strange country. Since your Ronald Reagan you have allowed your wealth to be accumulated in the hands ofvery few people. People whose interest is themselves. You have schooled your children to believe greed is good. You have allowed this wealth allocation to reach point where the few control almost everything. They have taken over the Republican party which now encourages division.
I have met many draft dodgers here. About half of them feel that they need to tell me how I should do things.I do not feel that need.
Your attitude to gun ownership is really weird considering how they are used in your country.
The way you allow your governments to treat your least fortunate is verging on being downright cruel. And your attitudes to social welfare practised by so many of your allies makes me wonder if you consider bvirtually all of the world communists.
Several of my present friends are American and are very pleasant people. They live without guns. They love the free social services and medical that we take for granted. About 2 years ago I spent 8 weeks in hospital First operation went wrong and I needed 3 more. The whole thing likely cost close to 2 million. I paid $80 for one ambulance as we figured their help was needed.
Socialism is not communisism. We have never had communism. The closest was under Lenin but even that was too close to Fascism. France may havecome closest.

Why did I vent/rant like that. The USA does not seem to value women. I was brought up in a matriarchal society. I look at men here and see many that believe that they were born superior to women. I see men being bullies. I see a society where financial success is god.
How can one be lonely in marriage or live-in? Well my wife's sister was in that and we rescued her and she lived for ten yeats in a cottage of ours. She now lives close to her daughter. In her case her man was always working on jobs a thousand miles away. I'm guessing you had lovers who seemed to prefer being with other men. I've seen such men, maybe I know some. Not me. I am not one to go to pubs or bars with men. I never did and if a group went I was only happy if women were present. Men shout and boast. But then I'm not totally a loner as I prefer to live with a woman, though I wonder now, since sex is no longer relevant, whether I could share with a man. Never tried it. But after 40 years in the bush, clearly I am happiest with minimal company. But I was never lonely with a mate.

@rogerbenham do not use the collective "you" as many of us did not advocate or promote the issues which you cover. I agree with what you have written, but in no way do I or many, many other people buy into the greed, etc. Unfortunately, people with money rule the country. Trump's poor/middle class followers hope that somehow, his "riches" will rub off on them. They are gullible and they are ignorant.

One can be lonely in a marriage/living together for many reasons. One that people grow apart and no longer share things in common. For many years, my ex-husband and I had only our children in common. We married young and it wasn't so much that we grew apart, but that I grew and he did not.

@rogerbenham by the way, I never lived in the "bush" but until I was six, we lived in backwoods Oklahoma and had a well (water drawn with a bucket) and an outhouse. We did have electricity, but no phone. We moved to Cali and I was six and my entire life changed. I would still live in a very rural area if it were feasible. I live semi-rural now--out of town, but not "rural."

@rogerbenham and I forgot to add . . . it wasn't the absence of my husband of 25 years which made me lonely: he could be in the house all the time and I would still have been lonely.

@Gwen_Wanderer rogerbenham@yahoo.com
I guess that I have met enough Americans to know how more like I than those in power. After all I became a hippie in 1974, because I was adopted three weeks after arrival in Vancouver and Canada, by an international hippie family, who very rapid showed me a way of life and thinking that I urgently needed. They were so unlike the then public perception. Smoking dope, having long hair, being homeless, being unemployed ...etc. none of these were true. Nor a requirement. One never smoked or drank, two had short hair, they rented an old building, they effectively made a small moving company work. But what really got to me was their inclusiveness and honesty. Open and joyous. I took it all in. There were some great stoies. They left. I found more, never many. Being a hippie wasalmost a sacred commitment. I usually recognise them wherever I meet them. “ you can do whatever you like so long as you hurt no-one and nothing”.
I once was the #3 position in the Canadian Green Party but it proved to be too right wing for me. I admire Bernie Sanders and really like AOC. Your best president was Jimmy Carter who has been a wonderful example of good living. As an engineer at the time I admired what he was trying to do. Obama was part of the elite and had good sides but he was just another warlike president. Why does America so support the horrors of Israel? Probably because there are Zionists in very important positions. And Zionist money pouring into corrupt political hands. Do your sentors really have no idea of the massacre and holocaust being wrought by Israel? It reminds me of when Michael Moore stopped and asked congressmen if they would send their sons to fight in Iraq or Afghanistan.
More later.