Everyday Hero #1

 September 14, 2022

The theme for this year’s Walk for Life is “Everyday Heroes.” Our daughter has encouraged Linda and myself to record a one-minute video about someone who has been a hero in our lives. I have a problem with this: My life is filled with everyday heroes, so I’ve decided to write about some of them over the next few days.

My first and greatest hero is my wife Linda. She is the most unselfish person I know. I remember when in college we first met; she would stay up late listening to a friend who was going through a difficult situation. By late, I mean into the wee hours of the morning, even if she had an 8:00 am class. She would give everything she had to her basketball team, even though she had a bad hip that would leave her limping at the end of the game. 

I cannot remember the number of times she would come home late from work because some kid needed extra help that her regular class teacher wouldn’t stay after to give. She has taught a women’s Bible study for 25 years, often getting into the car on a cold winter night when she’d much rather be home. She soldiers through headaches and weariness to be available to others.

When our kids were growing up, she was the one with the patience to listen far into the night for that one little clue to what was going on inside them when I had zoned out hours earlier. Again, I can’t recall how many times I heard her say, “Some things you do just because it is the right thing to do.” And she did, even to people who had hurt or disappointed her.

She loves being home. She rarely sits down, is always cleaning, cooking, doing laundry, making sure our house a place I always want to come home to.

No marriage is without its issues, and we have had our fair share of them, but she has had more patience with me than I deserve. She holds no grudges. Year by year, she has gotten easier to live with, and she wasn’t hard to begin with. She is loyal to a fault, is my confidant, and quite often, when God speaks to me, his voice sounds a lot like Linda’s. There is no one I would rather spend my time with, no one who I would trust more. Linda definitely is my everyday hero.