She had seventeen house plants. Each one named. Each one watered on a schedule she kept in a little notebook by her kitchen window. Margaret was 71. She hadn't left her apartment in six weeks. Not because she couldn't. Because there was nowhere to go and nobody who would notice if she did. This is the episode that started everything.

THE NUMBER THIS WEEK

Fifty-eight hours. That is the average amount of time that passes between when an elderly person dies alone at home and when anyone realizes they are gone. Let that sit for a second.

IN THIS EPISODE

We explore a kind of disappearance that rarely makes headlines—not sudden or dramatic, but gradual, silent, and often unnoticed by the world around us. The story of Margaret and what seventeen house plants have to do with survival. Why one in four people worldwide have no one they would call in a crisis. The friendship recession and how we got here. What it actually means that the Surgeon General declared loneliness a public health epidemic. Why we stopped knocking on each other's doors and what it is costing us every single day. What community living changes about all of it.

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION

Who in your life has seventeen house plants and no one to notice when they stop watering them? Who is one knock away from being found?

SHARE YOUR STORY

Do you know someone who is disappearing? Have you been there yourself? Ann wants to hear it. [email protected]

CONNECT WITH ANN

@before.they.go.missing | linktr.ee/btgmpodcast

IF THIS EPISODE HITS HOME

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — call or text 988Institute on Aging Friendship Line, for adults 60+, 24/7 — 800-971-0016

Before They Go Missing is a solo podcast by Ann Reynolds. New episodes every week. Prevention before disappearance.

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