One

Exactly one year ago ....

At around nine in the morning, I woke up to the news that my daughter E, who was scheduled to give birth at the end of the month, was experiencing contractions. Since the contractions weren't coming one after the other yet, I was not at all panicked. After all, when I gave birth to her, my firstborn, I had to go through a full day of labor. The hospital actually asked me to go home the first time I went because I wasn't dilated. Besides, it was Valentine's Day, which is absolutely one of the tackiest days in the calendar to celebrate a birthday. Surely, my granddaughter would not be born on Valentine's Day, I thought.

But after just half an hour, the overeager parents of the father of my granddaughter had arrived and they wanted to go to the hospital already. Apparently, my daughter had called her Ob-Gyne and she was advised to check in at the hospital right away. My daughter was only 18 at the time, and our doctor didn't want to take any chances.

In my wildest dreams, I never imagined that I would be at this stage of life this early. At the time, I was only 41, too young to have a grandchild. I thought that I would marry off my daughter first before getting to see yet another bundle of joy. But things don't always work out the way you thought they would.

And true enough, despite our pleas for E not to give birth on Valentine's day (please, please pretty please), she did. Before evening, she gave birth to Baby S.

Today, Baby S turned a year old. And she has brought untold joy into our lives. Sometimes things don't always work out the way you thought they would; sometimes they actually turn out better.

Happy birthday Baby S!

And happy Valentine's day too!