Unsung Heroes

I've had this blog on my mind for a little more than a week.  I have been so focused on getting Thanksgiving taken care of (and for your information, I did that in STYLE!) But now with Christmas looming, I find my time more and more limited. So, I'm writing in my pajamas...minus contacts, add slippers, hair uncombed ... don't worry too much,  I did brush my teeth!

The Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, we gave Goose a gift. I created concert-style t-shirts of his 2011 tour for firefighting.  Yeah, they rock!  I'm proud of them.  Good job, Mom!

I handed the shirts to our family members and when I went to hand one to my eldest son, Tyson, I was overwhelmed with emotion. It wasn't the warm, fuzzy emotion, either.  It was GUILT.  I think that I'm guilty of giving Goose so much attention for the work he does and that I don't always recognize what the rest of my family is doing that benefits their lives and the lives of the people that surround them.

I think we all have heros within our grasp. I'm not the talking about the "swoop-in-and-save-the-day" kind of heros. More like the people that are filled with such incredible strength, kindness, hope, love and unselfish generosity with NEVER a thought for their own needs or discomforts.  BAM!  You're thinking of someone right now, aren't you?

My unsung hero is Tyson. Those who know Tyson, aren't shocked by this statement. In fact, they might be thinking of him right now, too.  Those who don't know Tyson, well, let me be the one to tell you, this world is a better place with him in it.

Tyson has all the characteristics that you expect in your average-every-day-kind-of-hero. He's strong, handsome, kind, generous, unselfish, giving, etc.  Although these things put him on hero status in my eyes, it could be argued that many people possess these characteristics and they don't necessarily make him SO special.

Maybe so ... maybe not.  Years ago I was doing a family "brag" letter at Christmas, and Mark and I were talking about what we wanted to put in that letter to describe the kids and what was going on in their lives.  When Tyson's name was brought up, Mark said it best.  He said, "When I grow up, I want to be like Tyson."  Tyson was 15.

I'm sitting here thinking of stories to tell that would back up my statement and make you understand why I would say something so bold. The list is so long and the stories are SO complicated that it would take a novel to complete them.  So I'm going to keep it simple.  Stephen King is quoted as saying "The most important things are the hardest to say because words diminish them."  I find that to be the case here.

I love my son.  MANY people love my son. They have relied on him through the hard times and took pleasure in the good times. There isn't a person in his life that he hasn't shared with unselfishly. He gives the best gifts to our family and has never asked for anything in return.  In fact, I can't name a time that he has ever asked me for anything.  Most kids ask for new clothes, shoes, money, cars or whatever they want or need.  Not Tyson.

Rudyard Kipling wrote a very famous poem.  I swear he took the words from my heart.

If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or, being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise; If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;  If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;  If you can meet with triumph and disaster  And treat those two imposters just the same;  If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken  Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,  Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,  And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools; If you can make one heap of all your winnings  And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,  And lose, and start again at your beginnings  And never breath a word about your loss;  If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew  To serve your turn long after they are gone,  And so hold on when there is nothing in you  Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on"; If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,  Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;  If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;  If all men count with you, but none too much;  If you can fill the unforgiving minute  With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -  Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,  And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

So, Tyson doesn't get a t-shirt with his accomplishments on it. He gets a quiet "thank you" from friends, family, and the strangers he helps on the way. Yep, he's my hero. And if you don't have a hero in your life, you need to get to know my son. If you're one of the lucky ones, he'll be your hero, too.