How do you feel about friends who aren’t great or are inconsistent with communication? I have a cousin who I’m very close to. We grew up almost like sisters but even better. We are very different personalities though but we’ve always loved each other so much. We lived together for 10 years in our 20s and then we both got partners and I had two kids (one 3 weeks ago).

We’ve also had a lot of issues because of being so different. One way in which we are different is socially. She’s the type to have lots of close friendships and juggles them by rotating between visits and dinners on weekends and evenings. This means I don’t get see her more than once a month if I’m lucky. She’s also not good at texting and will get back to me like a week after I text her. I, on the other hand, am more the type to have fewer close friendships and we communicate often or check in often and I’ll see them more frequently. I don’t think either way is wrong or better than the other but I do find it hard that it’s so difficult to connect with my cousin because we are so different. I find myself forgetting about her or not putting as much into our friendship because it takes so long just to hear back from her.

Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on how to reconcile these types of differences. I find myself getting put off and just not even wanting to bother texting because I know I won’t get anything back, so what’s the point? I love her so much and she’s family so cutting her out is not an option but it’s so stop and go all the time I just can’t enjoy our relationship fully.