When Valentine’s Day would roll around my grandfather would always buy my grandmother the biggest box of chocolates, even though I’d eat all of the ones I liked. He adored her and that was the love I saw. This was the love I felt.

He was my first love like any father should be, but he was my grandfather. I remembered the days my mom would drop me off at school and I was sure that at the end of the day he’d be there to pick me up.

A piece of my love went away when he left and it was just hard to even fathom. He had been sick for a while but never did I understand that he would be leaving so soon. He was my superman, the one who held my family together.

When I got that call that you were in the hospital, I didn’t take it too serious because I saw you a couple of hours before and you were fine. I got to the hospital and it was then that my love grew; scared. It was then that I knew my super hero was leaving me. It was no longer you; that strength that you always showed, was gone.

You showed me how to love and be loved and when you left, that love left too. I was forced to think about the relationship with my father that feels non-existent to me. The relationship that you shielded me from, with your love. It was like the walls around my heart had crumbled.

I was left to face the world of men who find it hard to love. Left to shield my own heart from society. Left to determine if I’ll love as I loved you. To wonder if someone would ever love me like you did. My love, buried. With a man who loved. The man who taught me love.

Sometimes my love feels like it went with him when we said our goodbyes. Though, I want to show the world the great love that I received from him. I want to allow someone the opportunity to love me as much as he did. They might not compare to his love but I’ll let them come close.

Each day my love will be awakened by the moments we spent when you’d pick me up from school and those boxes of chocolates you brought for Nana on Valentines, (that I ate most of). Loving me for my future. Thank you for that love.

BK
Pitched Entry