Who’s Your Hero? Happy Birthday, My sister–My Friend!

Today is my sister’s birthday. It’s a big one–a milestone. It’s more than 60 but less than 80—Pros and cons there. But it doesn’t matter that the calendar shows an advanced year, she’s still my precious protector and mentor. Oh, she sees my faults, but she doesn’t care. She chooses to overlook them and looks only to what good she can find in me. From youth, I have always known she’d have my back in everything.

When I began selling industrial chemicals in the early ‘80s, Virginia let me practice my sales spiel and newly gained knowledge of highly concentrated cleaners in her beautiful home. I started in her kitchen to show her how the heavy duty stainless steel polish could make her avocado refrigerator shine. I knew my sales pitch and happily spouted it off as I rubbed a huge circle of avocado green paint off the door. We both gasped. I remembered too late this was the chemical to clean road oxidation off tanker trucks.

“Well,” I said, “let’s move onto something else.”

Without missing a beat, she led me to the carpeting on the stairway and presented me with a quarter-size spot of milk that had refused to come up.

I went to my black box of samples and pulled out a small bottle with a dabber on the end. I had seen this spot remover used in my sales training class and knew this would do the trick. So I sat down on the steps and moved the little bottle back and forth on the spot while pressing it upside down. And wouldn’t you know, that stubborn stain disappeared—along with a pancake size of gold coloring from her carpet.

“Oops,” I said. “What other little problem can I help you with today?”

Again, Virginia held out hope for at least one miracle from that black box of mine, and she knew if anyone could pull it off, I could.

“Do you have a deodorizer?” she asked. “Well, yes, I do—a great floral one and highly concentrated.”

When my brother-in-law walked in the front door after work and saw us carrying the overly aromatic carpet out to the backyard, Virginia smiled sweetly at him and said, “Don’t even ask.”

That’s unconditional love. Happy, Happy Birthday to my hero and best friend!

Who is it who disregards your flaws and loves you anyway? Write about one instance where that person backed you all the way. It will bring a smile to your face and add one more chapter to your memoir.