Everyday Heroes

Like always, incessant change is upon us.

I thank YOU for helping me make some changes to the format of this newsletter.

Dateline September 30, 2021
Location: Rural Savannah, Georgia

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A heads-up: Last month, I combined this newsletter with my RV blog update. Feedback was positive, with one exception – it was too long. I am not known for brevity. Of anything. I vow to continue working on that.

I am also grateful to some of you for another reason. Researching and writing my latest (sixth) novel, my most ambitious project to date, consumes most of my time and mental energy. That, and living a traveling life with my bride of fifty-two years, is exhausting. I try to maintain some sort of balance between writing and all the other important stuff normal people spend time on, but frequently fail to do so.

Imagine my delight when you informed me it really was okay to combine my RV Blog updates with this monthly newsletter. I share what’s on my mind with all of you here instead of once to my RV friends and separately to those of you who subscribe to this newsletter.

And I promise they’ll be shorter too. And more focused (another personal challenge). That helps me as well. Thank you all.

So here goes, and keep the feedback flowing my way–good, bad, or ugly. I can handle it. After all, I’m a writer, and writers don’t last long without a thick skin!

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Maybe like you, I don’t spend enough energy celebrating the lives of everyday heroes. Toward that end, today I’m asking you to celebrate with me the lives of some folks I’ve met recently. You know some of them too. In addition to all the truly extraordinary heroes we may know of–there are never enough–let’s celebrate everyday people living extraordinary lives:

• The single mom I met working double shifts at a rural convenience store lives in a travel trailer in order to provide for her six-year-old son and teenage daughter. She didn’t smile much, but spoke of her little soldier’s bravado and her princess‘s burgeoning talents. She didn’t really need to smile. I could see the pride in her tired eyes as she leaned on the counter between us for support. Said she felt terrible for not having brought photos.
• A young couple I met yesterday had just sold everything so they could purchase and move into their very first RV the same day. They enthusiastically dove into a new life together overnight so now they can choose where they will employ their portable skills while home-schooling their fourteen-year-old daughter to avoid exposing her to the ravages of COVID in their old neighborhood.
• A gentleman I met last week had broken his back not so long ago. John was forced to retire from his job due to his injury. For two decades, he had serviced chillers for industrial air conditioners. After several surgeries to embed structural pins in his spine, he now is able to care for his asthmatic wife who is still recovering from a near-fatal six-week stay in the hospital. Just released. Yup, COVID again. She cannot survive for the foreseeable future without a pressurized breathing apparatus. They’re hoping for the best. And he’s taking her camping!
• Then there’s my new pocket-rocket friend, Vicky, the first female fire chief in the state of Florida, recently retired. She is traveling through North Carolina with her son, David, who suffers from severe MS. Her husband was not with her as he is a sea-going tugboat captain out of Houston, too near retirement to take time off just now (?) Vicky was trying to manage the captain’s RV for the first time, and I was glad to help her. She shared with me she was granting David’s wish before he succumbed completely to MS – he wanted to go on a trip. This strong woman trembled.
• A dear long-term friend worked tirelessly for decades to become an influential executive in a multinational corporation, and succeeded. He and his wife retired to enjoy the fruits of their labor. One sunny Minnesota morning a few years ago, for no apparent reason, she lost consciousness in the kitchen of their new dream home and struck her forehead on the corner of a countertop before bouncing the back of her head on the hardwood floor. The result: a severe traumatic brain injury. Now they make the best of it. He spends almost all of his time and energy caring for her. She spends most of her time sleeping. Dreaming too, maybe? We look forward to spending some time with them in two weeks.
• This week, a young woman named Shannon Harrel and I shared stories about writing. She works in a campground here in rural Georgia. Shannon writes about caring for the horse that killed her mother, for a talkative cat named “Bad Ass,” who is well past his prime, and for her father who is possessed by advancing dementia. Shannon writes and publishes stories of her earthy experiences, salted with both fact and fiction. Check out her debut novella entitled Legacy. You will be touched, as I was.
• A young man named Evan drove himself mercilessly to become a Green Beret, later a CIA officer, and now continues his service to others as the youthful CEO of his own company with the goal of hiring 10,000 veterans – his tribe, his family. Evan’s company, less than a mile down the road from where Kay and I are parked right now, inspires the locals. A visit to his website, Black Rifle Coffee, will inspire you too. Check out their apparel at NineLineApparel.com. The few words we shared, well, I was impressed.
• My remarkable niece, Connie, and her husband Jason, raised two children in the Kingdom of Lesotho, which is surrounded by the country of South Africa. Later, they moved to war-torn Mali for a brief time. She served as a missionary in Africa for fifteen years, while Jason served as a bush pilot in support of their mission. Oh, the stories of recovering live HIV-infected infants from dumpsters, tipping aircraft off mountaintops because the landing strip was too short, and warlords invading their village to pillage homes–including theirs–and…. Jason now instructs missionary pilots in Nampa, Idaho at Mission Aviation Fellowship. Connie is the founder and executive director of the Idaho Learning Center and Academy. When Connie’s own daughter struggled to learn, she felt compelled to help her and other children who absorbed information differently from the way standard curriculums in traditional schools taught, so she started ILCA. Like most of her earlier life, the ILCA, aka Joshua Institute, was born out of Connie’s personal necessity and desire to serve others. Connie recently returned from a trip to train instructors in Zimbabwe, located in Southeastrn Africa. Like I said, remarkable.

I could go on, but I won’t for the sake of brevity (oops, too late?). I am grateful for so many heroes in my life, especially my own Miss Kay right here in our movable home. Plus, I am delighted to discover more everyday heroes each day. We have but to see them, and listen.

That’s another reason I write – to celebrate, in my own way. What do all these folks share? A desire to get through each and every day the best way they know how – often in service to others, whether it’s just to one or two other family members, to their community, to thousands of others, to their nation, to their brothers and sisters in arms, or to humanity. Some serve by sharing their remarkable stories to inspire the rest of us. These are the everyday heroes I wish us to celebrate together, at least for today. But why not every day?

Why not reach out to all the everyday heroes in your own life and thank them for their service to others, and maybe even for their fealty to themselves and to their passions? I’m convinced that this is how we can be our own hero, the best version of ourselves, by expressing gratitude to others, and to ourselves for what we have and can accomplish–every day. You game? Let’s do it!

Help me celebrate by sharing this post with others you might like to inspire! Copy this link: https://gkjurrens.com/2021/09/30/everyday-heroes/ and post it in an email, on Facebook, Twitter, or wherever you believe a little positivity is needed to counter SO much negativity. Thank you for helping me restore some balance. It all helps.

I celebrate you too!

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With pen in hand… wherever… and until…

Gene