In just a few days, the youngest member of our family is going to enjoy a very big day.

Emma Nicole Kanelis will turn a year old. It’s the first of many birthdays that will come along for this little pumpkin. However, as the saying goes about only getting one chance to make a first impression — you only get one chance at celebrating your first birthday.

It’s a big deal for her paternal grandparents, for sure. Check that. It’s a huge deal for us.

I’ve noted before the joys of welcoming a granddaughter into our world. As every grandparent knows, there can be nothing like the joy one feels when holding your child’s child in your arms. Your memory flashes back to that moment when you held your child for the first time.

Indeed, we’ve regaled both of our sons with memories of those moments — perhaps a little more often than either of them would like. My answer to that simply is: Too bad; we’re entitled to share our joy whenever, wherever and with whomever we wish.

So little Emma will get to smear a birthday cake all over herself. Maybe she’ll eat a bite or two of it. She’ll open presents — no doubt with help from her adoring brothers.

Her parents will look on at all this and wonder, “Where has the time gone?”

I’ve been fond of responding to that question offered by young parents by answering, “Talk to me in 20 or 30 years.” Yes, time has a way of getting away from us.

Now, though, I have relearned how they feel. We had the same wonderment many years ago when our sons celebrated their first birthdays. Then their second, third and all the subsequent birthdays.

That sense of wonder and amazement is back now that our little Emma is about to celebrate her first birthday.

Where has the time gone?