Unsung Hero

Have you ever thought about heroes being everyday joes that do something extraordinary??? Heroes are sinners, like the rest of us, but they have a trait or a quality that sets them apart and makes them special, at least to the person for which they are the hero. I remember as a child going to a carnival and a 'spiderman' was there. It was really a grownup in a costume, but it didn't matter, he was spiderman on that day, but even as a child, a comicbook character didn't foot the bill as a hero for me. I just thought it was cool that I had met 'spidey'. I remember a little boy whose mother's idea of teaching him to swim was making him jump in the deepend of the swimming pool and figure it out. I was the only other person in the pool and I was 10, a good swimmer, but not match for saving a little boy who weighed double my weight, but he was drowning and his mom just stood there watching him splash and choke on water. He kept sinking further into the pool and was coming up lower each time. He wasn't learning to swim, he was learning to drown. His mom just kept yelling at him. I had finally had enough and swam to him. He kept pulling me under and I finally figured out to gulp a big breath the next time I pulled up before he pulled me under and then to swim with him while I was under water. To that little boy, I was his hero, but all I really was doing was doing what had to be done before he became unconscious. His mother yelled at him about how stupid he was and that if I hadn't been there she would have had to have gotten her clothes wet. R U kidding me?
Heroes take on many shapes and sizes. In this year of learning to appreciate small things like standing and walking and being able to use my mind again, my heroes have been the people who held a door for me as there have been many people I have found who don't hold a door open for a handicapped person. My handicap is much better and I may even get well one day, but what hurts is knowing there are handicap people who are permanently handicapped and if people let doors slam in my face this year when they fully saw I wasn't able to easily get it, then think what it must feel like to a handicap person who goes through years and years of having doors fall shut inches from their faces while able-bodied Americans see them and choose to ignore them and let doors fall in their faces.
I have even found a new group of species of heroes. This group of people really get a bad rap as a group, so single individuals in the group really take a beating. The group I am talking about is, strangely enough, lawyers. I never dreamed I would think that, but after this year, I now realize there are attorneys out there who are pitbulls, but they are pitbulls to defend the weak, the handicapped, and they defend those who cannot defend themselves. There are attorneys out there who actually have morals and are heroes for everyday people, like me.
I must ad that my specialist for this past 16 months is also my hero. She didn't give up when I wanted to. She has a strong personality and many people don't like her, but she gets an A in my book, because she has done her medical best to help me this year.
My husband was probably my first hero in my life and he continues to be my hero. He is very much human and is by no means infalliable or perfect. He was my hero 21 years ago when he bought me food, clothes, and took me to the doctor for basic medical care, and he continues to amaze me by having been my hero again in the last 16 months of my injury, 4 surgeries, 5 months of physical therapy, countless doctor's visits, I stopped adding up the medical bills when they hit $100,000, not to mention the debilitating medication I was on for much of 2008. His house cleaning skills are horrific, but he has washed most of the clothes in 2008, cooked nearly all the dinners in 2008, and saw to it that I ate, took care of both our son and me when I could not, and even saw to it that I smiled no matter what it took. He continues to work on getting me to smile, washing clothes, and cooking dinner. Heroes aren't perfect, they're human, like you and me, but when faced with a challenge, they step up to the plate and swing the bat. I must say that I have been quite a challenge for the last 16 months and I owe a lot to the man I married as he took care of me when I couldn't take care of myself and when so many others haven't realized just how traumatic this year has been, he knows and he keeps working on making me smile. He says that when I smile the whole world lights up........