Most people’s heroes are either famous or dead – well, I live with a live one! She sees through walls, hears my thoughts, and knows things about me I didn’t even know. And boy, can she order dinner! She can have a “home-ordered” meal on the table in 30 minutes, or it’s free. She scares me a little bit sometimes, but I ultimately love her. My mother is my hero.

Heroes usually do something heroic like saving lives, or extreme acts of kindness and selflessness. My mother is a critical care nurse in a crazy, busy Intensive Care Unit. Saving lives is basically her job! The kindness and selflessness part comes naturally. The amount of stress that comes with her job is frightening, but she works best under pressure. Life and death situations is common for my mom; she is armed with lightning fast reflexes and can go from doing 100 chest compressions per minute during CPR straight to lining up for coffee and donuts, in a heartbeat. The hard part is that she has to work half the holidays, so we either spend Christmas but not New Years with her. If she wasn’t caring for me and my brother, she was at work caring for other people. My mother is the foundation of my family. Without her, I would not be where I am today.

My mother always puts my needs before hers. She would work through the night because she knew she had a family to take care of. She’d throw me the greatest birthday parties ever just to put a smile on my face. She’d care for me when I was sick; my happiness and wellness is all that is important to my mother. She sacrifices so much for me. I believe that a true hero cannot be selfish and my mother is the most unselfish person I’ve ever met, never asking for anything in return.

I’ve always been close to my mom. Whenever I had problems, I went to her for guidance. When no one else was there for me, she was. My mother always made me feel safe. She taught me that health is not to be taken for granted and that we must value our time together. Not to waste it on arguing or being angry but to work things out. So we travel together often and read books like there’s no tomorrow.

I’ve learned throughout my years that everything my parents do is for my benefit: setting limits, encouraging me to play sports and appreciate piano, even through the times I had doubts. My mother taught me so much, like how to think and see goodness in the world, to know that money doesn’t grow on trees and that success takes hard work and perseverance. She taught me to be generous, honest, and faithful. Most importantly, she taught me to love myself.
My mother may not be a world leader or an Olympic gold medalist, but she inspires me to be a better person each and every day. She is an ordinary hero who leads by example and loves being in the service of others. She’s with me every step of the way and I hope that someday I’m half the person she is.