No Shame

Today, I met the new girl at work. She looked perfectly ordinary and seemed sweet enough, but I would soon come to have an entirely new understanding of the phrase 'don't judge a book by it's cover.'

Halfway through the long and particularly boring shift, we started swapping facts about our lives. Seeing as how we were both stuck within the mound of clothing in the fitting room, we figured we might as well get to know each other better.

When she began to tell me a little about her life, I was amazed that she was sharing such deep, scarring stories with me. She humbly spoke of the fact that she is in AA and that she has been through rehab. A subtle strength was written all over her face when she told me she is almost at her year mark for being completely clean. She has huge ambitions for making a difference through sharing her story and wants more than anything to work with the Peace Corps.

I think that a lot of people are automatically dismissed because of their past, but really all that matters is the present and the future. This girl is striving to turn her life around, even though it's a struggle every day to stay on the right path. She shares her story without shame, in the hopes that others will learn from her mistakes. Everyday heroes don't worry about how they might be perceived, they are who they are.

Squirrel Whisperer

While taking a walk through a local park, myself and my friends were intercepted by an older man on a scooter. He greeted us like old friends and jumped straight into friendly conversation. 

To him, it was probably an average day. He seemed like the kind of guy who could strike up a conversation with absolutely anyone. To us, it meant a lot more than that. 

Being on a college campus has its drawbacks, one of them being the lack of diversity in age. 

Needless to say, in my eyes this man was an everyday hero. He took time to reach out to a group of college kids and talk for a few minutes. He shared insight and wisdom from his life, funny stories,  tips for feeding the squirrels, and a bit of advice.

Everyday heroes don't worry about only themselves, they reach out to those around them. 

The Beauty of Scars

Today I met a woman who was absolutely beautiful, had a great personality, and a wonderful smile. She spent a few minutes looking around the department, chatting with me casually the whole time.

Eventually she found her way to the register to purchase a blouse. When I asked for her ID to finish processing her transaction, my eyes were drawn to her left arm. It was covered entirely in burn scars, and she no longer had any fingers on her hand. Instantly embarrassed for staring, I jerked my eyes back up to her and she met them with a kind gaze of her own. With a huge smile on her face, she cracked another joke and wished me a good evening.

Everyday Heroes are comfortable in their own skin and wear their scars proudly.

River Adventures: Part 2

I was tubing down the creek and got stuck on a rock. No good. Turquoise bikini girl was passing and exclaimed, "Grab my hand!" So I did. She got me unstuck from the rock and we continued on our merry way. Heros understand we're all in this together.

River Adventures

Once upon a time we were tubing down a river and having a grand ole time. We floated past a little boy and his mother, each on a separate tube. A few minutes later, the little boy came back into view, but his mother was stuck upriver on a protruding rock. Seeing the mothers anxious look, a man nearby caught himself on a rock, and grabbed the little boys tube as he came drifting past. When the mother finally made her way downstream and reclaimed her hold on her son's tube, she seemed very grateful. No words were exchanged, no thanks given, no tokens of gratitude. Mother and boy went on their way and the man went on his. Just goes to show that everyday heroes do things regardless of whats in it for them.

Auto Adventures

Once upon a time, three teenage girls were roadtripping and blew out a tire. We pulled quickly to the side of the road and assessed the damage. Fortunately, we were only a few minutes from a friend's house and she quickly came to rescue us. In the meantime, we wondered if anyone would stop. People kept honking, catcalling, and driving past and I was a little surprised at the blatant rudeness. But this is a hero story and those people are not who it's about. One gentleman stopped and, knowing we were three young girls who would be easily scared, he kept a safe distance, rolled his window down and asked if he could help at all and if we had a spare tire. We thanked him and explained we had someone coming. He smiled and replied that we really should get a spare tire and drove away. A few minutes later, another gentleman pulled up in front of us. He got out of his car, but also kept a distance and asked if we needed help. Again, we thanked him and explained help was on the way. He responded, "Alright, just making sure," and left. These men might have thought they didn't make a difference since they didn't do anything. But heroes offer to help regardless and we really appreciated not only the offers of help, but the respect they showed us as women. It made our auto adventures that much less stressful. Thank you.

Grace by Age

At Macy's the other day, I had the privilege of assisting a wonderful older woman. She seemed to be between the age of 75-80 and relied on a walker to make her way through the department. She was there for a good half hour before I left for my lunch break. She was just browsing around, so I didn't think anything of leaving. 45 minutes later when I returned from my lunch break, she was still browsing. After checking up on her, I went back to my regular duties.

Another half hour later, she finally came to the register to check out. This is when I learned that she was buying all of these clothes (about $200 worth) for a close friend of her's daughter. Apparently the woman was having financial problems, and she claimed it was a huge blessing to do this for her. All of this, and then she donated $6 to a  charity that supplies books for children.

Everyday heroes don't worry about the money.