I sympathise completely with you,icaniwill....I have never been the type to have lots of people around...just never felt the need. I guess I am a quality not quantity person. I have experianced a lot of lonlieness / aloneness since i left my husband almost 4yrs ago-we are now divorced. Yet-as someone else said on here-you can feel more lonely with someone you can no longer communicate with.Unfortunately it coincided with my 2 best friends leaving the UK,soo...things just got worse.
BUT..since coming on AB, I have meet many people...and there are several whom I consider to be VERY good friends. I have come to realise that friends do not always have to be your next door neighbour,or an old schoolmate. I think the internet gives us the equivalent of penpals....people we exchange news and ideas with...they just happen not to be sitting at our kitchen table with us.
Just hang in there,hun....there are plenty of like-minded people either on here or a host of other sites..people who will be there when you need a friend.