The perfect date

She holds my hand as tight as her little hand lets her. She looks at me with the purest of eyes. She smiles at me like she knows I do no wrong. She loves me unconditionally. Every date we have is the Perfect Date. Never has she been unsatisfied with what we do, even if it's the exact same thing we did the last date. She loves the one-on-one time regardless ...

My perfect date is my daughter. I know, maybe that's not the best way to describe what my daughter and I do every Tuesday considering the world we currently live in ... but that's what she calls it, MY DATE WITH DADDY ... and I am content with that. It puts a smile on my face, which she does every time she looks at me with those baby blue eyes.

Our dates aren't much. We go to the Levee in Newport because it's only a block from her school. I pick her up and we walk down. She always grabs my hand and holds it. We go in every store (luckily, it's got to be the smallest mall on the planet). She shows me what she likes and never asks for anything. I buy her a slushie or a milkshake and we sit down on a bench and stare at Cincinnati while she drinks her aforementioned beverage. We sit there and she tells me all about her day at school, what she did in art and what she wants to do the next "date."

"Next week, Daddy, I want to sit at that bench and get a blue slushie."

"OK sweetie, whatever you want."

I'm a pushover. My little 6-year-old has me wrapped around her tiny pinky, and she knows it. Yet, she seldom uses it to her advantage.

She's growing up so fast. Soon, it won't be me sitting next to her on the bench sharing a blue and red slushie with her. It's going to be Troy, or Ryan or some other punk that gets to see that smile, to look into those purest of baby blue eyes. I cherish these dates, for some day, she won't need her daddy anymore. I hope that someday she finds someone that will cherish the hugs, hand holding and the unconditional love that I was able to cherish first.

I love both my kids so much. They make me whole ... without them, I am a shell of a person. Without them, I would open my eyes to darkness, for they fill them with light ... Without them, my heart would beat for nothing, for they keep me alive ... Without them, my ears would hear no sound, for they make music to my ears ...

Without them, I wouldn't be ...

I wanted to share this on Valentine's Day.

Because this should be a day to show how much you love the one unconditionally. Not the one you are currently in love with. Not for the one that love fades but for the ones that are always there. Thick or thin.

To my kids: The only two people I told Happy Valentine's Day to.

I love you both.

Tom Bayer of Newport is a father of two, who plays too hard on his free time and loves listening to local punk rock at UNF events.