I salute thee...since tomorrow it is valentines day, I want to thank and salute the man who gave me nothing but love, my dad. Many men can be fathers but it takes a real man to be a dad. No man had his kindness, many girls are their princesses to their dad's but I was his queen. Gave me tough love at times but he was only showing me the way and look how well it turned out to be (even if I have to say it myself). It's sad that he can't be with me today, that he won't be with me tomorrow, but through it all his love will live on. I want to salute him for his bravery, his strength that kept him through lifes measures. I want to salute him for the type of gentle man he was, he really knew how to treat a lady. I salute him for giving me joy, it's his laughter that remains to the sound of my ears. I want to salute him for his care, always being protective of me. I want to salute him for being himself, that taught me to be me. Not only do we share the same qualities, we share the differences. He was a politician, today I'm a writer who speaks her mind, who knows her goals. I'm glad I took that side of his. I'm a proud daughter because of him having being my dad. I salute him!... I want to salute the woman who had always been there before I could be in this world, I first evolved in her world, my mom. She natured me with her motherly love. I salute her for being a mom, it takes any woman to be a mom but it takes a mother to be a mommy. I salute her sensitivity, the tender hands that helped till I could take over. I salute her beauty, on the inside and out. I salute her for her strength, learning to fight with a sword to save me from lifes cruelties. I salute the woman who would jump off the bridge for her daughter. I salute the woman who stood firm when my dad passed, her inner strength that passed on to me to be strong. Her pain seeing me hurt, I salute her for allowing me to face pain, to not try and take away but let me fight it and watch me survive through it. We all know that pain doesn't come once in this life time, and that even if she could have taken it 1st time around, she wouldn't take it away all the time. I salute her. I salute her for being herself, it will teach me to teach the generation yet to come. I salute thee (dear mom and dad). You both showed that love lives on either dead or alive. It's the experience of pain that one would not wish sadness to someones else and therefore love is left to share, the experience worth not being with held, but left free to conqour. I salute thee!!!