Editor’s Note: The following piece, “My Valentine,” was the winner of the 2001 Waldron Campus Center Valentine’s Day contest and ran in the Feb. 14, 2001, issue of The Gannon Knight.

Valentine’s Day! It seems like it’s the only day of the year that people try so hard to go out of their way to show someone how much they love them.
To me, every day is Valentine’s Day because I am sure to tell my valentine, my dad, how much I love him.
I remember back to when I was a little girl, how he put his time aside to spend hours with me, teaching me how to ride a bike.
I remember how we used to take walks together in the woods and have our own special place where we’d sit and admire the beauty around us.
I remember getting older and asking him to give me rides to dances. Wouldn’t you know…he’d always stop whatever he was doing to take me.
I remember the first time I drove to a friend’s house after getting my license. He told me, near tears, that he was worried since I didn’t call once I had gotten there. I had forgotten to call that time, but it made me realize how much he loved me.
I remember the day he said that taking me to college would be the hardest thing that he would ever have to go through.
I remember back to all those times he would play games with me, when we would make dessert together, when he would help me with my homework and when he would pick me up in his arms to pretend he was dancing with me. Who could ask for a better man?
I now find myself telling my dad to call once he gets home from bringing me up to school, asking him quite often to go for bike rides or to take walks with me. I know that someday I may be the one who needs to drive my dad places when he will no longer be able to do it himself.
I love him so much and in no way will I ever forget the best times of my life — every day with my dad, my valentine.

TERESA LORENZ