Friendships change shape. A friend you only see twice a year can still be family.

Closeness and frequency are not the same measurement, though they get confused constantly. Some friendships move from daily to annual and lose nothing structural: you pick up mid-sentence, the person still knows your whole history, and nobody has to be caught up. Other friendships are daily and shallow. What matters is whether the thing survives absence.

Stop grading your friendships on contact frequency. Send one message to the person you have not spoken to in months and do not apologize for the gap. The good ones do not require an explanation for the silence.