Low maintenance friends. We all have them. Those friends that you have known for years, but maybe haven’t reached out to them in a few weeks or even a few months. In my opinion, these are the best kind of friends to have. Over the past few years, I have learned the incredibly important life lesson that it’s more important to have a few very loyal friends than a whole bunch of people you just hang out with.

As you get older, it’s very easy to get caught up in the hectic whirlwind of life and lose touch with the people are so important to you. When you leave the sheltered world of high school or college and quickly enter the real world, your priorities tend to change from spending your free time carefree and seeing friends to working as much as possible and adulating when you get a chance.

While there is nothing wrong with changing your focus in life from friends to careers and houses, it is always important to remember the reason you wanted them in your life to begin with. I have four friends in my life who I have known for what feels like forever, but ask me the last time I actually saw them face to face. I probably couldn’t give you an answer, but I still love them dearly as my best friends.

Fortunately, in today’s social networking world it is very easy to keep in contact with people with minimal effort. I haven’t actually been able to see my friends on a regular basis, I can still keep track of what they’re doing in life with Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram. To my friends traveling the world, I hope you’re having the most amazing experiences imaginable. To my friends who are starting their “real world jobs”, I am so excited for what your future holds for you.

Friendship is definitely a two-way relationship and it always takes effort from both parties to make it work. I am the biggest offender of reading a text message, thinking I responded only to find hours later that I only thought I texted you back. I’ll even think about you for something, pick up my phone to text you, and then lose my train of thought and never get around to texting you. For that, I am truly sorry. If you ever need me, however, just reach out and I will do anything I can to be there for you.

Whether you were in my life for a few months, or continue to be active in my regular crazy, I truly hope you’re doing well. If we haven’t talked in a while, remember it’s still okay to reach out. Life changes and people always get busy. Just always keep in mind that your low maintenance friends are probably in the same boat as you are. You never know what a simple “hello, how are you,” could do for someone’s day.