LA PRINCIPESSA IS GROWING ON ME!

Greetings on this joyous day of days, La Principessa turned three-years-old today!

What could possibly be more exciting than seeing the joy of my life on her special day? Actually, it is my special day, she made me the grandfather of the most beautiful child ever!

Funny what a grandchild can do to you, make you fall in love like no other you experienced since your last child or the day you met your mate, beautiful moments to be cherished.

There are of course so many types of love in this world. There is the love that drives you and makes you whole, like marriage, there is a love of life, music, art and food. You don't want to miss the love of your children and even the love of ideas.

But the most special love when all are accounted for comes from somewhere else, it is the love of a grandchild. Three years ago, I had no idea what that was like, to love this tiny creature that has suddenly arrived one day to the joy of everyone. You get excited and go see the new person, the enigma locked in the box of imagination that is finally revealed. You see the parents, who suddenly seem more as one as of any time you noticed before. They share the look of joy and the respect for what they conceived, a child, their own. How sacred that look is.

But then, you peek into the blankets that surround that new-born child and cradled in its mother's arms, by the hovering father and you know: this is your first time you will meet! This is the moment that clears away the mystery and gathers a joy that is overwhelming and magical, THIS is your grandchild!

The magic begins with the first utterance of sound that escapes from the delicate lips with the tiny fingers nearby, the eyes that search and suddenly it hits home. From 9-months of a sacrifice of comforts and the agony of childbirth for a mother, here is a totally new human being, one conceived out of love and bearing the fruit of that love, your grandchild!

And as the child grows: your grandchild, you scheme the many ways you will give this beautiful child your love and devotion. You will become aware suddenly that life has come full cycle for you, and you are feeling privileged, and awed.

And then one day you hear the sweetest sound you ever heard before: "Grandpa" and when you match the words with the innocent face from where the word came from, your world is changed forever!