Dear Friends vs New Friends

When you were seven years old, you might have been a Girl Scout Brownie. One of the songs they sang included the line, "Make new friends but keep the old. One is silver and the other's gold."

So how do you tell a lifelong friend that, while you still love them dearly, you feel that you've grown apart, that you no longer have as much in common? This can be for several reasons: Your newly acquired friends are more accessible, like neighbors who have become friends, friends who are always available to accompany you to the grocery store or open houses or the garden shop. Friends you can completely be yourself around, who accept the wart on your nose.

Of course you don't want to lose dear friends, but how do you keep them if you only want to see them once every few months instead of every month now? Should you be honest?