Most friendships don’t end with one big fight. They end with a small one nobody bothered to fix.

Endings are usually quiet. A small slight goes unmentioned, the next reply takes a day longer, and after a few months of that the friendship has stopped without anyone deciding it should. Because there was no rupture, there is also no obvious moment to repair. Neglect does the work that conflict gets blamed for.

Think of someone you have let drift for no real reason and send the plain message: it has been a while, how are you. There is no need to explain the gap or apologize for it. Most of the time the other person was waiting too.