Another in the same boat here! Had very few friends at school and we all drifted apart afterwards (pre mobile phone days!). I had a group of similar aged friends at work and while we all lived and worked in the same area we met up several times a week, but inevitably people moved away over time.
Me and one other lady stayed in the area, became very close, supported each other through weddings, pregnancy and the baby years but totally out of the blue last year she ghosted me. I have no idea why and only discovered it when I realised she hadn’t sent me a happy birthday message on my 40th. When I tried to make contact to check she was ok I found she had blocked me on all social media and also blocked my phone number. We had been messaging as normal just the week before!
Long story short I was very upset, 20 years of friendship thrown away and I have no idea why.
With some gentle pushing from DH, I reached out to the other mum’s at school and asked if anyone fancied a regular monthly meet up for dinner/drinks. To my surprise loads of them agreed and we now go out once a month! The group varies as to who is able to attend but I had several of the mums approach me privately to thank me for organising as they were in a similar boat to me - few friends and no local family.
I will also add that I have 2 groups of Mumsnet friends that I am in daily contact with via social media. We live all over the world but met here and bonded over TTC/infertility. Those women are my rock: my shoulder to cry on and the first people (bar DH!) that I share any news with. We’ve been through so much together, TTC, infertility, pregnancy, childbirth, babies, toddlers, etc as well as infidelity, divorce and death. If you can find yourself a similar tribe you’ll never be alone!