Start a tradition with your friends, even a dumb one. In ten years it’ll be sacred.

Friendships that survive distance usually have a fixed point in them, something recurring that nobody has to organize from scratch each time. It does not need to be meaningful when it starts. Repetition is what turns a stupid annual habit into the thing that keeps a group in contact for twenty years.

Invent one now and give it a date: the same meal, the same walk, the same ridiculous competition. Keep it easy enough to survive jobs, moves and everyone getting busy. The only real requirement is that it happens again.