A friendship can weather most things and thrive in thin soil; but it needs a little mulch of letters and phone calls and small silly presents every so often - just to save it from drying out completely.
In old age we are like a batch of letters that someone has sent. We are no longer in the past we have arrived.
Always write angry letters to your enemies. Never mail them.
In politics women type the letters lick the stamps distribute the pamphlets and get out the vote. Men get elected.