Hi there,
Welcome to the forum and happy early birthday!
Milestone birthdays do make us reflect back on good and bad things of our lives, sometimes too much on the bad things going on. While you are here to get help on the things you are missing in your life, I do hope you reflect on all the good things in your life on your birthday and have an enjoyable celebration.
I've heard few times people say that it's harder to make new friendships when we are older. I believe quite the opposite, that it's easier because people are mature and understand better what they expect from a friendship. However, expectations can be high as people weigh the worthiness of the time taken for their friendship as they are juggling other responsibilities in life.
Like with any relationship just casual chatting time to time lacks substance and doesn't make a friendship deeper. Exposing the vulnerable side of us and having deeper conversations can bring people closer. As I'm terrible with names myself, I tend to make notes of names of partners/kids of new friends I meet, even names of pets sometimes. Being able to recall someone's past discussion and enquire them using the relevant names instil trust in people.
You sound like a nice and respectful person. I'm sure people will see this through with little bit of effort connecting with them. Take care..
