Old friends forgive the gap. Text them even if it’s been a year.

The length of a silence feels like a debt that has to be explained, and that is almost entirely in your own head. On the other side there is usually no grievance, only the same assumption that too much time has passed for them to be the one who writes. Old friendships hold their shape through gaps better than people expect. Both of you are waiting for the other to make it not awkward.

Send the message without the apology for not sending it sooner. One line about something specific you remembered is enough. Expect four seconds of strangeness and then the usual thing.