Tell the friend who helped you through a difficult time what life feels like now.

People who help during a bad stretch often never learn how the story went. They saw the worst of it, gave what they had, and then the contact thinned as things improved, which can leave them holding a version of you that is years out of date. Hearing that the hard part passed is one of the few real returns on that kind of help.

Write to the person who sat with you and say plainly what your life looks like now. Include the ordinary details. It closes something for them that you may not have realized was still open.