For a long time, I believed the best in people. If someone smiled at me, I smiled back. If someone needed help, I helped. If someone called me a friend, I treated them like one. Maybe that is just the way my heart works.

I have never been very good at keeping score. I did not help people because I expected something in return. I helped because I cared. I showed up because I believed that is what friends do.

Maybe that is why it took me so long to recognize when some people were wearing masks.

People often say that some people are only meant to be in our lives for a season. Maybe there is some truth to that. Not every friendship, relationship, or connection is meant to last forever.

But I have also noticed that phrase can become an excuse.

Not everyone who leaves was simply a season. Not everyone who hurt you was a lesson wrapped in a blessing. Sometimes people leave because they were never as invested as you were. Sometimes they stay only as long as they benefit from your kindness, your loyalty, your time, or your heart.

I think there is a difference between someone whose chapter naturally comes to an end and someone whose mask finally falls away.

One is life taking people in different directions.

The other is finally seeing who someone truly was all along.