The solution to the puzzle is Variety.

What is the key to a successful life? I would say at least one, if not the first, is variety.

As I look at friends, family and co-workers (who may fall into one of the other co-workers as well), I realize we all sing a different duet, trio, quartet, etc.

What I notice about the few very close friends I have are more like family to me than friends. We fight, love, laugh, cry, drift apart but always come back together. We all have a different dance, and yet I love them all.

While I have a very few 'close' friends, I have a bunch of pals that each are unique in their own way. These might be time pals - only during a certain time in life and then we drift apart; situational pals, the ones we have because of work or kids throwing us together; work pals, we are friends during work but don't have a clue what goes on outside of the confines of the building; the list goes on.

Family is a whole other category, and to talk about the variety there would takes days, if not years. I love my family, even the ones I don't really know, it is what family does.

Key thought - rambling though it may be - variety really is the spice of life and each person we have in our life (the ones that really play a role and aren't just extras) bring us different pieces to our whole puzzle. Variety gives us the solution.