I was with our family recently watching and listening to our granddaughter Layla Shayla interact with different members of our family. It made me think of how many people she has in her life, that love and adore her.

Earlier that day I had posted a picture collage of some special moments of her and me that her mother (my daughter Whitney) had spontaneously captured.

It made me think about not only how very special Layla Shayla is to me, but to our entire family. I began to think about what it is that makes someone special to someone else, beyond being a family of origin or of choice.

The “in-to-me-see” thought that I had was, you have the potential to have a special relationship with someone for a variety of reasons: you want that, they want that, you find something attractive or special about them, etc…

But the revelation for me was, that you have the potential to have a special relationship/friendship with someone if you know “the something special” that you bring to the relationship. It’s a part of the “best version of you” that you choose to give to someone else, that potentially empowers you to connect with what “The something special” in someone else…that is a part of the best version of who they are.

When this happens…you have “something special” that everyone wishes they had and yet…most don’t understand that to have “something special” with anyone, you have to be the someone who knows “the something special” about you, that only you can bring, that makes you and them, something special.