family relationships

According to my experience I have found a reversal in the way relationships are these days. For e.g. if it were my aunt or uncle I am expected to take the initiative and maintain contact with them. In the case of nieces and nephews too I am expected to take the initiative and maintain contact with the youngsters. I do it if I feel like and don't if I don't feel like it.Whether this would turn into an active one is difficult to predict becasuse as you said, the priorities of extended relations would always veer towards their closest [parents or siblings ] and all the others would come later. Whenever we attach a lot of importance to such contacts and invest a lot of effort and time in these the heartache becomes more acute .To your question, I would suggest that such a contact shoudl be viewed with detachment .If they choose to keep it , it is alright ; but our heart needs to be in tact if we must save ourselves emotional pain.

Any form of contact is still contact. I'd suggest you continue to communicate in whatever way you can. I dont speak much to my parents as I'm very busy a lot of the time, and there's been many family problems too. They still appreciate the odd text message and e-mail out of the blue every so often though.

I think face to face chatting and communicating is much better than virtual contact. However, the reality is that nowadays, family members often live far away from each other, and in this situation the virtual contact becomes the only option.