The Tough Mudder smile. Also known as the everyday smile

My Heroes

First published Wednesday, December 26, 2012

I was thinking the other day about my heroes; the people in my life I look up to.

Most of them are women. Young women, in fact.

Some are very close to me – my step-daughter Adrianne tops the list by a mile – and some I barely know or met in person just once. But all these women – my everyday heroes – inspire me in some way, and all of them make me feel like a better person for knowing them.

Adrianne, as I said, is number one. I guess that would make her sort of a super hero, and I’m pretty sure me saying that is going to tick her off some. Too bad.

She is one of those right brain-left brain people; the kind who can build stuff and play the piano, sometimes at the same time. The kind who juggles three kids, her job and the demands of her friends and family with apparent ease, the kind who joyously celebrates every last morsel of life. And she does it all with this huge smile while spreading positive vibes wherever she goes.

But enough about Adrianne. I wouldn’t want people to know that I think she’s awesome. She has Facebook friends to do that for me.

Besides, I have other young women friends who are amazing. Take Lindsay, for example. She’s the only girl I know who can rival Adrianne for biggest smile. Thousand Watts, I call her, because that smile can light up a room and the lives of all those who are in it.

Then there’s Terrine, whose positive spin on the world, her friends and her family has made me smile for more than a decade, despite the fact she keeps forgetting my birthday. I hope the next six months go smoothly, T-Dot. Last baby, huh? Good luck with that.

Jen, another of my ex-Domino’s mates, earns high praise from me as well.  She’s another one of those people who can do it all, be it banging in a sweet backhand, balancing the books or breeding begonias – okay, I may have made that last one up – and she does it with a joie de vivre that is truly inspiring.

Jordyn makes it three from Domino’s, and she gets hero status for two reasons: one, she loves life like nobody else – you go, Shredder Girl! – and two, she has always shown courage in her daily decisions that has served as an inspiration to my dream of one day living a life without fear. I said to her once, “you have no fear, do you?” She replied. “Yes I do, but I choose to ignore it. It holds people back.” Wise words.

Cassie, my son’s best buddy, is another inspiration. I hardly know the girl but I always get a rise from her attitude towards, well, everything. Nobody can party like a rock star while keeping a clear vision on her future like her. You’ll make a great nurse, Cass.

Speaking of women I hardly know, we come to Jasmine. I met her once – when she was about 12 – and our relationship is tenuous at best: she is the daughter of my brother’s long-ago ex-girlfriend. And she lives in New Mexico. But ya know, that’s what Facebook is all about and I get to read about - and be inspired by – her life every day on social media. She’s an amazing young woman.

Another woman on my hero list I’ve met but once is Linda, and she’s the only one who no longer qualifies as ‘young.’ But if there’s a person I know who is younger at heart than her, I don’t know who it would be. Always positive, always challenging – herself, conventions and others – Linda is another whose actions I try to emulate.

There are other women (of all ages) who energize, engage and inspire me every day. There’s my sister-in-law Mary, my niece Julie, my friend Jules, my mom, Joan. My niece Natalie, my Aunt Norma. There’s Candice, Kristen, Christian and Caitlin. That’s not even including the under-12 set (hello Allison, Lauren and Vanny Pants!), who are my favourite teachers of all.

They all make my world a better place. That’s the best kind of heroes, in my books.