As I am frequently in the elementary school these days, I see various class projects and art masterpieces displayed on the walls and bulletin boards. One of those class projects was a “newspaper” prominently displaying a photo of the person whose “Exclusive Story (was) Told Here for the Very First Time!” I looked for Beth’s on the wall yesterday but I couldn’t find it. So imagine my surprise when I sat down for breakfast this morning after she had caught the bus and found some of her papers left for me to see. One of them was her newspaper.


In the lower left-hand corner, there was an “article” entitled Meet My Hero. The instructions read: Write a mini-article about a person who inspires you. Here is what Beth wrote:

My hero is my mom because she is the one who taught me how to talk and write and most of all she taught me things I need to know in the open world.

I decided I needed to write my own article, and from that thought it was an easy leap to writing it for my beautiful daughter and for the blog. So here is my mini-article about a person who inspires me …


My hero is my daughter Beth. My eyes tear up and my heart thumps just thinking about writing about her. She brings sunshine and laughter into the lives of all who are privileged to be around her. She works hard in school and at swimming, and her performance reflects her efforts. She is beautiful inside and out, and she is maturing before my very eyes. The little girl is rapidly being replaced by a more mature, thoughtful, focused pre-teen.


In a few short weeks, this much-loved member of my family will have been with us for 8 years. The time has flown by. My hero daughter made the brave and conscious decision to risk loving yet one more time, and 8 years later, we couldn’t be closer or more in love with each other. She chose happiness and success in spite of less than stellar beginnings. She received my instructions about “things (she needs) to know in the open world” because she claimed me as her mother and because she wants a happy life for herself. She is the hero; I am Robin to her Batman!


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