My son sent us a message at 6:37 a.m. MST on Messenger. They’re two hours behind us, so it was 8:37 a.m. for us.

The message? “It’s go time!”

Keaton and Kate’s due date was December 13, but their baby decided December 3 was the day.

Three hours later, at 9:29 a.m. MST, Atlas Cameron Gruner-Mitchell was born.

I expected to be happy when the baby was born.

He’s our first grandchild, and I expected to be happy for Keaton and Kate.

I didn’t expect to be joyous. But I was tearing up with joy while waiting for the news of the successful delivery. And that joy continued all day, thinking of our first grandchild.

Like the Grinch, my heart grew three sizes at the thought of our little grandchild.

It was hard to stay focused at work.

It was hard not to bawl like a baby as I sat at my desk, hungry for news and photos.

Joy isn’t an emotion I feel often—true joy, I mean.

The first time I felt it was when Deb was walking down the aisle toward me on our wedding day.

I felt it again when Caileigh was born, when Keaton was born, and when Tara was born.

This is the first time I’ve been so overwhelmed with joy when I wasn’t in the room where the joyous activity was happening. I was over 3,000 kilometers away!

But oh, how my heart swelled at the thought of little Atlas being born.

How it swells to look at photos of him. So tiny. So beautiful.

It will be a few weeks before we can see him in person, but our family gathered online to welcome little Atlas to the clan on his first day.

Hi, Atlas! We love you!!