My parents have a pretty long “Christmas letter” list. This includes my mother’s large family, people from my parents’ youths, and friends they’ve made in the 30-something years of Army moving. A lot of these are people that they no longer communicate with outside of these exchanged Christmas letters. But it is very much important that we get those letters, and that we give them. This has particularly mattered during times of difficulty, like while my mother was being treated for breast cancer. She had a lot of friends who showed up out of the metaphorical woodwork to offer sympathy and support. These are friends who care, but generally don’t need more than once or twice a year updates.

I guess my point is that there is still a big question that technology doesn’t answer: how do you determine or define what is a worthy (of time/attention/caring) relationship?