Nostalgia and Change in Friendship

Read the following passage and then answer the question that follows:

Seeing his best friend for the first time in years, Jerry felt a wave of nostalgia wash over him. Memories of their childhood flooded back, each one filled with laughter, adventure, and the carefree spirit of youth. Yet, as they embraced, Jerry couldn’t help but notice the change in his friend. It was subtle, but undeniable—a heaviness had settled in the lines of his face, a shadow of what once was.

In the blink of an eye, the carefree days of their youth seemed but a dim memory, drowning under the weight of adulthood’s expectations. The innocence they had once cherished now lay on the ground like forgotten toys, neglected and brittle from the passage of time.