The Rules of Love, 3rd Edition

RULE 81

Never be too busy for loved ones

I’m as guilty here as anyone. It’s so easy to think, ‘I’m tired. I’ll give them a call tomorrow’, and before you know it a dozen tomorrows have gone by and you still haven’t called.

And it’s really not good enough. If you want a strong relationship with your family you have to work at it, just as you do with your partner. And that means investing time in it. You need to find time to see them even if they live a long way away, and you need to put effort into calling them between times to keep in touch (note to self). It’s so easy to fall into benign neglect. You didn’t mean to not speak for three months, it just sort of happened. Well, don’t let it.

Of course, your family may not be any better than you ...