What If…We Make People Feel Special

For as long as I can remember, my dad chose a special 🎅Christmas gift just for me. He bought something that I had not circled in the Sears Wish Book. No- he always chose 🎁gifts from fancy stores in town, wrapped with shiny paper and big 🎀bows. As a little girl, I received real perfume in glass bottles or real gold jewelry. As I got older, he often chose 👗clothes- a favorite was a wool coat in a beautiful shade of fuchsia that I still wear. My dad had style! He continued this tradition until he died, and every 🎁gift was just as special as the one before it.

The tradition was his idea- just a way to make me feel like a 👑princess. That was the line he always said when people asked about my 🎁gifts. I knew to expect my special present every Christmas, but I never guessed what could be in those boxes. I just knew that he chose it for me.💝

This wasn’t the only time my father made sure I felt special. Not long after he turned 80, I received an envelope in the 📫mailbox with the address written in his handwriting. Confused, I opened it to find a 📩letter that was simple and sweet. He just wanted me to know that he thought I was an awesome daughter and a good mother to my own kids.😍 He wrote that he was proud of the person I had become. Simply signed- Love, Dad.💝

Doesn’t it feel good when someone goes out of the way to make you feel special? 💘When someone expects nothing in return? 💘When the only goal is to lift your spirits? 💘We can all do that, you know. The opportunities are there every single day. All day long. We only need to 🔍look for those chances and act on them.

I don’t know about you, but I have lots of good intentions. Following through can be the challenging part. Life gets busy.🔃 Things come up out of the blue. We get interrupted.🔄 Next thing you know- those good intentions are put on the back burner. 🔀Filed away as something to do “another ⏰time.” Yeah- whatever that means.

I love the feeling that I get when I take the time to follow through. Something incredible happens in my own 💖heart when I know that I made someone else feel special. It’s what you call a win-win situation!👍 I’ve probably used this quote before. It’s my mantra- and my favorite Maya Angelou quote. “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel.”💯

It’s true- isn’t it? I remember those people who made me feel wonderful, beautiful, special.😇 I also remember those people who made me feel awful.😢 With my favorite quote in mind, I always try to make people feel seen and heard and loved. I’m sure that I fail at that from time to time. The important thing is that I try.🌟

During the lockdown part of this pandemic, Angelina and I took the time to make a few friends and family members feel special. 💝We chose pretty cards, wrote notes, and sent them in the 📬mail for happy little surprises. I thought about that and decided to do something similar with my students for 🎄Christmas. I found cute 🎅Santa cards and wrote each student a personal note in my sloppy 📝writing that some needed me to read aloud.😊 I wanted to share a couple things that make them special to me- so they can remember how they make me feel.😍

What if…we make people feel special? 😍Get creative! It doesn’t have to be anything extravagant. It just has to be from your 💖heart. Leave a note on the counter. Send a funny text. Listen. 🎨Draw a picture, like the ones I have taped to my desk at school. Ask ❓questions. Bake banana bread and tie the loaf with a 🎀bow. Maybe even try something like this: I think you’re 😍awesome and THANK YOU for reading these words. Simply signed- Love, Dianne💝