Whenever I hear that phrase, "with a little help from our friends," I think of my teenage years, and the iconic Beatles song. But the fact is, I don't think we relied on our friends back then the way we have come to do now.

Many of us, looking forward to a time of widowhood or late-life singlehood, are looking to our friends, rather than to institutions or agencies, for help. (Heck, we don't even have to be single to do this. Steve and I have friends who are helping us daily, even now!)

As an example, right now, one of our friends has volunteered to go do grocery shopping for me every week, because he realizes that my knees have become very stiff, and until I've had surgery to replace both of them (not to mention during my post-surgery recovery times) this is something that wears me out, yet is a relatively easy thing (from his point of view) that he can do to help me.

I thought of this today, as I read the attached article from the Utne Reader about a new book, With a Little Help From Our Friends (Vanderbilt University Press, 2014), by journalist and author Beth Baker.