Jennifer Senior, staff writer at The Atlantic, kicks off a series on friendships and discusses her recent articles on the importance of keeping friendships in middle age.  Plus, calls from listeners on how they've maintained and found new friendships in middle age.

As far as keeping friends in my late 30s, it’s been incredibly hard, small kids take up basically any extra time outside of work, and most of my close friends don’t live in NYC anymore. Glad to hear some older callers having success making friends. Gives hope

My best friend and I met on 14th St. on 9/11 when we were both freshman at NYU. Each year we celebrate that day positively as the start of our friendship. Last year marked 20 years!

I have a circle of middle aged friends from around the world. We met through following our favorite band on tour: The Cure. We're all middle aged friends and I don't know what I would do without them. We're planning road and train trips together this fall.