A friend who moved away but still knows your coworkers’ names has been paying attention from four states over.

Keeping track of the cast of somebody else’s daily life at a distance takes deliberate effort. Nothing requires them to remember who is difficult at your job or which manager you like, and holding those names means they have been listening to the boring updates rather than waiting for headlines. That is the actual work of a long distance friendship.

Do the same back, which mostly means listening to the dull parts of their week. Ask about the person they mentioned last month by name. Send the small update rather than saving things up for a long catch up that keeps getting postponed.