That sounds like a nice place! I live by the water too, I'm in the NE of the US. I never get to visit the water though since I'm stuck inside.

I used to take long walks before my back got so bad and I was able to control my weight pretty well back then. I also was a smoker, so I ate less and smoked a lot. Unfortunately the heavy smoking impacted my lungs very badly so I'm coping with lung disease too. It's not fun! I miss being young when I could walk and life didn't feel like such an awful trap.

I know what you mean about family not being like friends. I'm not sure though which is better, living alone and seeing no one, or living with family and feeling like your home isn't your own. There's pros and cons to both, I guess.

I'm trying (but not hard enough!) to strengthen my legs and back by walking around in my apartment but it isn't enough. But there are stairs in the building that make it very hard for me to try to go out, since I can't walk stairs very well and I'm always afraid I might fall.

So I'm trying to strengthen myself in order to maybe be able to walk and stand a bit better but the loneliness and depression keep me from doing it as much as I should. And the clutter doesn't help.