phone calls keep us in touch with distant friends. My brother Trent and I live in different states, and we only see one another a couple of times every year. We mainly keep up through talking on the phone a couple of times each week. If something really big happens to one of us, we pick up the phone. If one of us has a particularly hard couple of days, we pick up the phone. He would be dumbfounded if he first heard about a big life change from someone else instead of from me. But talking openly is even more important than talking often.
