It’s taken me a week to get to this post, but I think of this as a “better late than never” situation because I want to have this here. One day, when I’m very old and my nephew, Patton, is all grown up and having his own babies, I’m going to say, “I’ve got some baby photos of you.”

By then blogs will be obsolete. And he’ll probably be annoyed I don’t have baby holograms of him. But I’ll show him this blog in the same way my own aunt has shown me photo albums and scrapbooks.

So, to the future Patton: You were loved deeply from the second you arrived. And on your one-week birthday, your mom, dad, grandma, and aunt, spent a cozy weekend in a warm Massachusetts house while it poured snow outside in a winter storm the weathermen called Helena. We cuddled you in soft blankets and laughed at your silly faces and chubby cheeks. We watched movies and your dad and I went for walks in the snow. Your parents read books to you and played with you in the sun. And I thought your grandma was going to cry as she rocked you in her arms and kissed you goodbye. You were one seriously lucky kid. But I’m betting you know that by now.