Old friends can remember capacities that recent acquaintances have never had reason to see.

People who met you recently know the current version and take it for the whole. Someone who has known you a long time remembers what you were like before a job narrowed you, before an illness, before a particular loss, and they hold onto abilities you may have stopped claiming. That memory can be uncomfortable, and it can also be accurate.

If an old friend keeps mentioning something you used to do, consider taking the observation seriously rather than deflecting it. They may be describing something that is still there and simply out of use.