The Bakers Adventures

Some people aren’t meant to walk the whole road with you.
And that’s not always a tragedy.

We grow up thinking friendship is a forever thing, that the ones who made us laugh until our cheeks hurt at fifteen will still be sitting beside us in rocking chairs at eighty. And sometimes that’s true. But sometimes, people are placed in our lives for a reason, or for a season. And when their part in our story is done, it’s okay to close the chapter without bitterness.

I’ve learned that letting go doesn’t always mean there was a fight, or a betrayal, or even a clear ending. Sometimes it’s just the slow unravelling of a thread you didn’t realise was loose, until one day you notice you’re holding less of them than you used to. And if that friendship didn’t make you feel good.. if it chipped away at your peace instead of adding to it.. then walking away can be the most loving thing you do. For both of you.

And then there are the later-in-life friendships. The ones that come quietly, sometimes unexpectedly, and remind you how it feels to be truly seen. They don’t ask for a shared childhood or decades of history. They aren’t measured in time but in the quality of the moments you share, the way they add value without ever taking from you. These ones are rare. And worth holding onto.

I’ve also made peace with the fact that not everyone deserves my friendship. That giving someone access to my heart is a privilege, not an obligation. And when I finally walk away from those who have proven they can’t handle it with care, I don’t carry guilt with me anymore. Just relief.

But there’s another kind of goodbye that’s harder.

The goodbye to something beautiful. The kind where you know the friendship was good, and kind, and true, but it was always going to be temporary. Like a holiday romance without the romance. The people you meet at a certain stage of life, who fit you perfectly in that moment, even though you know deep down you won’t keep pace forever.

I’ve started to celebrate those too.
Because not everything worth loving was built to last forever.

Some friendships are sunsets.. you don’t hold them past the horizon, you just stand there and watch, and feel lucky you were there to see them.

And maybe that’s the point.

To love the people who stay. To love the people who leave. And to understand that sometimes, the most beautiful things are the ones we only get to keep for a little while.