Everybody needs a hero

A couple of months ago while we were doing school, a piece of paper turned up on the table. I didn't pay much attention to it at first, then I noticed the handwriting. It was an assignment my oldest son had written in high school, although I don't remember ever having read it. It's about my mother. The paper must have been tucked into a book that my 15-year-old is now using. My oldest son graduated and moved out a year and a half ago and my mother passed away nearly three years ago. I don't know why I'm trusting blogger to save this for me; I'm just afraid of losing it:

What unlikely hero have you known in your life?

I would say my Grandmother "Gran." She has had metal jaws put in her and between silicone and teflon it has torn her life apart. She was an amazing singer in her teens and throughout college, she attended voice lessons and singing schools regularly, this was her "devotion" so to speak. When she was in her late twenties she had jaw surgery and had metal jaws put in and has had multiple surgeries on her jaws prior to the incident. My Gran now lives in an almost constant state of pain and is taking enough medicine for her pain to kill me probably, but she tries. She loves all her grandchildren and both her daughters, and she is fun enough that I look forward to going over to her house and "hanging out" with her. She inspires me and no pain I ever go through ever compares to her, which teaches me to be more content and try not to overestimate my own pain.

My Grandmother is an "unlikely hero" to me and I love her more than she knows.

I know this opens some questions for people who didn't know my mother. I think there's probably a long post requiring a lot of Kleenex (for me) in my near future about my her, so I'll save it. Let's just say that while DuPont has come under scrutiny for the health risks associated with exposure to Teflon in their cookware, you don't often hear that they were also using it in implants in humans without testing it's effects in advance. My mother had Teflon-coated metal jaws for years. The Teflon flaked off, just like in a skillet, and her body was full of it, even after having those jaws replaced.

My mother was my hero, too. What everyday heroes do you have in your life?