Bridges have gaps built in on purpose so they can expand in the heat. Leave room for people to grow.

Rigid structures break under conditions they were never allowed to move in. Those gaps look like flaws and are the reason the thing survives summer, and relationships work the same way, because a person held to exactly who they were two years ago has nowhere to put the change. Growth needs slack. Holding somebody to an old version of themselves is how a good friendship cracks.

Let somebody drop a label you gave them: the clumsy one, the shy one, the one who never studies. Catch yourself before you say that they always do that. Ask who they are now instead of confirming who they were.