Some friendships need less history explained and more present life shared.

Old friendships can turn into an archive, where every meeting revisits the same well-worn years and nothing new is added. It is comfortable, and it slowly becomes a friendship with who you both used to be. Shared history explains how you met; it does not keep you current with each other.

The next time you see an old friend, spend most of it on now: the work, the worry, the thing you are figuring out. Better still, do something together so there is a new memory rather than another retelling.