Real Heroes

Heroes. Good subject. There's all kinds of heroes out there who live in our imaginations. Makes me think about the kind of men I write about in my books. Alpha males through and through. Whether he's a fire fighter, sheriff or cowboy my heroes are big and sexy. Tough. They always seem to come out the winner. Don't we all dream about bigger than life heroes like that? I mean, how many of you fantasize about the Maytag repair man or a shoe salesman?

I look over at the sofa at my hero, and smile. He's been many things in his life time. A pilot, professor, principle, trouble shooter for large companies, golfer. He knew Jimmy Hoffa. He's been in the war, on a sinking ship, shot, and broken a few bones. He's survived open heart surgery and cancer...twice. He survived a couple marriages before ours.

Wearing faded pajamas, he's eating a bag of popcorn and watching an old Clint Eastwood movie. Course he's oblivious to the ones that have missed his mouth and are now on the floor. Guess he thinks the cats will clean it up. He spoils the cats.

My hero is retired. Which means he's home...all the time! The advantage to that is he helps out around the house. Does the cooking, laundry and grocery shopping sometimes. If I do the supper dishes he'll put them up for me the next morning. The dishes won't actually make it into the cupboards, but he'll at least take them out of the sink and leave them on the counter beneath whatever cupboard they go into to. All I have to do when I get home is open the cupboard door and put them away:)

If I ask him why he couldn't do that he'll say, "I don't know where they belong."

I've noticed lately that my hero is a little forgetful, and he'll start something and not finish it. I chalk it up to his advanced age. He's a lot older than me. I remind myself of that when we go somewhere and I have to slow down for him to catch up. Or when he thinks he's helping me but he's really treating me like a kid. I remind myself that everything he does he has my best interest at heart.

Heroes don't live forever. The ones in our books do. The ones we share our lives with live on in our hearts.

Tory Richards