Hera

The following piece is by a guest blogger. I leave these words in his capable hands:

Hera, or more commonly known under its masculine form, Hero, can be defined as follows:

One who, seen by the eyes of another, is seen to possess courage, bravery and strength in the face of adversity.

For some of us, we may strive all of our lives to be seen as a Hera or Hero in the eyes of a young one. For others, we may search all our lives to find our very own Hera or Hero to look up to. The true Heras and Heroes, however, are those who accomplish this without even trying. For me, it took 32 years to find one such person.

If someone had asked me two weeks ago who my Hero was, it would have required a pause and a hum, perhaps to come up with some answer. Today, there is no doubt in my mind.

This individual possesses Courage. Without a doubt, she’s displayed courage day in and day out. Courage, to me, is one’s ability to face adversity head on. This Hera never misses a beat. It doesn’t matter what she is faced with, she’ll muscle through it and won’t make a big deal of it.

This individual possesses Bravery. Again, it doesn’t matter what she faces, she marches on, or over (whatever the case may be) and moves on to something else. Bravery, as defined by yours truly, is one’s ability to face fears and overcome them for the better good of those around.

This individual possesses Strength. Strength, as far as I’m concerned, is the ability to muscle through or march over adversity when those around you break down and can’t carry on. This person demonstrated she could do that time and time again.

Now, some of you might say you know tones of people that possess these qualities. For me, I only know one person that possesses these qualities and has demonstrated them consistently and without selfishness. What makes this person a true Hera is the fact that she’s accomplished all of that, with no effort, by the age of two and a half.

For those that are current on this blog, you already know that our daughter has been diagnosed with a form of kidney cancer. Given the circumstances, I had the privilege to stay by her side throughout her stay at the hospital. I say privilege because I got to see her do things that I would never imagine myself doing, let alone a two year old.

It didn’t matter what test she was about to take, she went in there with a smile; and came out with one, too. Eventually, she caught on to some of the procedures and knew what she was in for. With a few words of reason and buckets of Courage and Bravery, she marched on and got through it. More importantly however, is her Strength. She marched on, even when mom and dad broke down. Telling them everything was going to be ok and that they shouldn’t cry.

‘Have a Kleenex and, as daddy would say, suck-it-up Princess.’

And she didn’t do it just once. Her heroism, and her smile, managed to put us back together more than once.

I am one proud father, and one day, when you read this, know that you couldn’t have given me a better Father’s Day gift.

You’re my Hera, you’re the reason I stop crying and I love you.