Exactly 368 days ago, my world changed. At 1:07 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013, a 7-pound, 6-ounce creature bounced into Natchez.

For my wife, Julie, and me, it’s been a non-stop thrill ride ever since. It’s a ride that I hope never ends.

Before and just after our daughter Anna was born, countless people in the community warned me to enjoy every second because, “They’ll grow up before your eyes.”

I reassured them all and thanked them as one does for pretty much any such unsolicited advice with a smile and a nod.

Logically, I knew each of them was probably correct. To a person, all were reasonably intelligent people, who had absolutely nothing to gain by exaggerating the truth.

But truth be told, I didn’t take much of their warnings to heart. Though, I’m fairly certain none of them could have said or done anything to make me believe them any more at the time.

A year wiser, I see exactly what each meant. Time is so incredibly fleeting that it’s easy for us to simply take it for granted.

I hope and pray that I never again do that.

Julie and I have laughed since Anna’s arrival at how much of our lives — prior to becoming parents — we wasted on unimportant things.

Now, spending time with family is at the top of any of our lists of plans.

That made Saturday all the more special.

Though Anna’s actual birthday was on Friday, we celebrated it Saturday with members of our family who traveled from across the state to come and visit.

The profound amount of changes Anna has brought into our lives became more apparent during Saturday’s party. Julie — who hopefully has passed along her intelligence and creativity to our daughter — created a video of Anna’s first year of life.

In the video, Julie organized images or video clips for each day of Anna’s young life. Each day’s image was shown on the screen only for a single second.

As the 365 seconds of single-day images fly past, it’s quite easy to see how all of the parents and grandparents who were wise enough to warn me about savoring each moment were dead on the money.

Anna, with a personality growing by the day, grows on the screen in amazing fashion.

The video begins with the first frail moments of life when she could barely move and when her parents were scared to death we were going to do something stupid.

As the images flicker on screen, the tiny baby begins to develop facial expressions, then laughs, and toward the end, what’s quickly becoming a unique personality.

Images from her first year of life make me tear up with love for this little creature who has helped strengthen the marriage that Julie and I have.

Anna has done many things in our life — including providing a few sleepless nights in the first weeks — but among the most profound things is just how much sheer joy for life she has.

I only hope that we as her parents can keep that alive and inspire her to enjoy the world as much as we enjoy showing it to her.

Happy Birthday Anna and here’s to many more.

 

Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.