There are a handful of dates in my life that I can honestly say have changed me. Some have made my life a darker place and others have done the exact opposite. May 16, 2015, changed me completely. This was the day I learned how much love I had closed myself off to. May 16, 2015, is the day I held my newborn nephew. That day, much like in “The Grinch,” my tiny heart grew three sizes.

Before I held my nephew, I did not know how much I had closed myself off from. Over the past year, I lost one of my best friends and left an emotionally abusive relationship. I did not realize that during that year I had managed to shut off the warm and fuzzy feeling section of my heart. Do not get me wrong, I was definitely excited that there would be this tiny bundle of joy coming, but until I held him in my arms for the first time, I did not realize how cold I had become.

I shut myself off from love and in turn started to see the world in a more negative view. I was content with being on my own. I was content with how pessimistic I had become and how miserable I really was. I had lost a little of my happy self and only found it when I was handed a little nugget of cuteness. The day I held the Joey was one of the happiest moments I had ever experienced. Looking at his little eyes, I was mesmerized.

I felt every emotion I had checked into a storage container in my brain that I labeled “do not open” the moment he was in my arms. I felt a happiness that I did not know I was missing. The ice around my heart melted. From that moment, I knew the world was not as miserable as I had viewed it for the past year. How could it possibly be so bad when something so precious was right in front of me?

Joey has changed me. I laugh more, I smile more and I want more out of life. I want to make him proud of the things I do. I want to be the best I can be, someone he can look up to. I know that each day he is running around and fighting a nap, that day will be a good one. I know that even on my saddest days, the days I feel like curling up in a ball and hiding, I can take one look at him and everything becomes OK.

I might be biased, but he is the best little nephew anyone can have. He is so loving, kind, and funny that anyone who has had a Joey exposure will fall in love with him. So, when I hold my newborn niece in the coming days, staring at her with just as much awe as I did with my little nephew, I can thank Joey for allowing me to open my heart up to the world.