As careers, families, and responsibilities grow, friendships often need more deliberate effort to stay present.
Friendship can feel effortless when people share the same routines and free time. Later, schedules become less aligned. Work and family take up more space, and an unplanned meeting becomes harder to arrange. The affection can remain while the occasions to see each other become less frequent.
That changes what keeping in touch means. It may require choosing a time and making a plan, which can sound less spontaneous but is not necessarily less genuine. I find it interesting that relationships can matter just as much even when they no longer fit naturally into the everyday rhythm.