I moved around a lot as a kid. One thing you learn pretty quickly, is to make clean breaks.

Sure you can try to stay friends, but once you've moved away, those friendships will inevitably fade. Those friendships were real, but they existed in a particular context. You bonded over work stuff. You talked about work stuff. You're no longer a part of that context, so they've ended. 99% of the time you can only delay the inevitable.

That doesn't mean the friendship wasn't real. It just means that it didn't last. That's life.

Join a club, volunteer, make new friends.

Dont take it personally in my experience its a combination of 2 things.

1. They dont want to remind you that you got laid off. If you're doing it tough they dont want to be like "hey man, we had some good times back when you had a job remember?"

2. You are a very real reminder that the same thing could happen to them. Even if you landed on your feet, they might not.

That combined means that reaching out and catching up is just kinda scary. I had an amazing night at a bar with an old work bestie when we bumped into each other a few months after he got sacked.

It's not your fault for thinking those friendships were valued both ways.

If you haven't yet, try reaching out to them. If you have and they haven't responded then at least you won't have to deal with people who don't show a genuine interest in you.

It sucks big time and it's rough, but you'll find some like minded people who value your time and willing to make space in theirs for yours if you keep looking.

As someone who has worked at the same job for 17 years now and had my original boss fired a week ago this hits hard... after that amount of time I really have no idea what to do now and it's super weird not having them around, or anyone for that matter, to provide direction.

To clarify he was not a bad worker, or did anything wrong outside of being there to long with a higher end job that the company felt wasn't needed despite not really understanding that he did a lot more than his title suggested because that's what happens when your there over 25 years. The company has been doing terrible for the last few years and has suffered a lot of layoffs... I talked to him a bunch after but I definitely feel like I won't really talk much going forward since our biggest thing in common was that we worked together.

It's why we have a specific word for them. At work you have colleagues, not friends. @Delphia's comment gives great reasons.

PS: Try staying in touch with them. Ten years is a long time and even if they aren't friends they are still valuable contacts.

Work friendships seldom come to transcend the place that birthed them.

Unless you became friends outside of work hours, it's better to cut off contact once the job is done.
The connection is made in relation to that work, so there is no meaning in maintaining it once you've moved on to something else.

Years ago I heard someone say, "friendship is ephemeral" and it bummed me out. But over time I've flipped and it makes me feel better now. Sometimes things are special because they don't last.

It sucks to lose friends but it happens. It doesn't mean that people think less of you if it ends at all, though. People go their own ways - you included! Just keep on trucking, friends will come and go