Some old friendships don’t need weekly maintenance. They’re like vinyl records: rarely played, still loved.

Some connections do not decay at the normal rate. They were built deeply enough that the gaps between contact stop registering, and picking up after a year takes about four minutes rather than a repair job. Frequency is a poor measure of closeness once a friendship is past a certain depth.

Stop counting how long it has been and calling it neglect. Send the message without an apology attached. If it is one of these, the absence of maintenance will not be the thing either of you remembers.