Mansfield – Making new friends can be hard, and it gets harder the older you get. But it's never too late to make new friends, even in your 70s.
Pam Searcy and Beth Parker are the trouble queens of Alba Mansfield, a community for those 55 and older.
“We support each other. If she needs something, I'm right there and if I need something, she's right there,” said Searcy, who lives next door to Parker.
If you met them for the first time, you would think they were lifelong friends, but their friendship is quite new.
“I lost my husband about seven years ago and was living in a four-bedroom, 3,500-square-foot home. For a while, I didn't want to move at all,” Searcy said.
Seven months ago, she decided it was time to move out of a house that was too big for her to live in alone.
“It just seemed to get more and more depressed. I wasn't really doing anything except going to the grocery store,” Searcy said.
The two met thanks to a puppy named Pepper.
“The first day I was here, I was on the patio so to speak, and I noticed a woman come out with a dog named Pepper,” Searcy said.
“One of us said, 'Pepper,' and I was like, 'Why are you calling my dog?'” Parker said.
“I asked her, did you call your dog Pepper?” Searcy said.
“I have Pepper. Pepper has a girl and I have a boy,” Parker said.
A pack of peppers and two new friends. Maybe four.
From that first day, the two became inseparable.
“Beth is very loyal and protective of her friends,” Searcy said. “Anytime anyone needs help, Beth is there to do whatever it is that they need help with. She's there.”
“Pam will laugh at any joke,” Parker said. “She's just so sweet.”
And when we're just sad, we all need a kind shoulder to lean on.
“We could talk to each other. I'm here when she needs to cry and she's always there when I need to cry,” Parker said.
But now they have each other, and they have Peppers.