Friendship is the shadow of the evening, which increases with the setting sun of life.

Certain attachments grow rather than fade with the years, and they tend to be the quiet ones. As other things narrow, the people who have known you a long time occupy more of the frame, and their value becomes visible in a way it was not at thirty. Nothing about the friendship changed; the light did.

If you are younger, the practical consequence is that today’s ordinary friendships are the ones that will matter later. Keeping them alive now is cheap and cannot be done retroactively. Answer the message, make the visit, stay in touch through the dull years.