As I have been watching your growth and development, I have once again had to pause and reflect on my own life. You have helped me appreciate how precious every day is. Compared to you, my time is relatively short, so I need to make every day count. But, if I step inside your life, the same can be said for you. You have lived one full year of your life, and it has been momentous.
I suppose from your perspective, you are already making every day count. You don’t have any worries, yet. Those of us around you are doing the worrying. When you are hungry you make a fuss, and somebody feeds you. When you are tired, you go to sleep. And when you don’t like something we feed you, you spit out. But, on the score card of life, you are already contributing to society without even realizing it.
We tend to discount a baby’s early years because we know you won’t remember any of it. We grownups like to project ahead to your 1st day of school, your high school graduation, and your marriage to the love of your life. But life doesn’t begin when we reach certain milestones. I hope you have a long life and reach each of these stages, but your life began last year, and you have already had a huge impact on the world. You have touched family and friends. I’ve seen strangers pass you in the supermarket or on the street and smile. You brightened their day without even realizing. And your impact on my life has been huge.
A famous person once said you will achieve success when you have lived well, laughed often, and loved much. That sums up my goals in life and it looks like you are doing pretty well, too. So, continue to Carpe Diem, Buddy—seize the day!
Love, Grandpa
P. S. By the way, you are not supposed to spit out your food at the table in front of us. When you get a little older, I’ll teach you how to spit it into your hand when nobody is looking and feed it to the dog.
J. D. Porter 
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