I have also had the experience of making new friends only to lose them after they moved, or I had moved. I have felt like getting away and trying to start things over in a new place so many times, but each time it just meant that I was further distancing myself from my good friends that I grew up with. I would still visit them from time to time, but now I'm seeing all of that past strain on our relationships working against us, as I hear from them rarely nowadays. And, each time I tried to start anew in a new place, I was always reluctant to get too close to people, since I knew that I would eventually be leaving, and I knew that the whole keeping in touch thing has never really worked out for me. Maybe people are better off staying in the same place their whole lives, so they can maintain and strengthen their relationships with the friends they cherish most.
There's this great Dylan song, called "Bob Dylan's Dream," where he talks about the friends of his early life, the great fun that they had together, and how it is now gone... It gives me a feeling similar to what I am getting from this board when I see that other people are experiencing loneliness and losing friends. It gives me some bit of solace, but I still feel a chill of fear and uncertainty about what it really means (i.e. that song and why we are all here posting).
