Friends you drifted from still get a thank-you. They were the right people for the chapter they were in.

Not every friendship is meant to be permanent, and ending is not the same as failing. Some people were exactly right for a particular stretch of your life, and when the conditions that held you together changed, the thing quietly wound down. That is not a verdict on either of you. Those years were real and they shaped what you are like now.

You can be grateful without reopening anything. If a name comes up, let yourself remember what they were good for rather than how it ended. And if a short message feels right, send it without expecting a reply.