Heroes Real and Imagined

Heroes Real and Imagined
            Heroic characters in books and movies can sweep us off our feet. We are lifted by the illusion that there are people that strong, that good, that honorable. What if there were people like that in real life?
            There can be. In his early teen years, my younger son—profoundly autistic, overwhelmed by every imaginable sensory input, and frustrated by difficulty in communicating with language—struggled to navigate a single hour of the day, much less days and weeks. Everything was so overwhelming that he closed himself off from the world.
            That remained true until a brilliant young special education teacher magically appeared and changed our son’s and our lives for the better at a seismic level. There was something about this “autism whisperer” that unlocked my son’s courage and the will to try.
            My son went from being trapped under a blanket in his room to walking on the stunning nature trails of San Francisco and Marin County. He still struggled with sensory input, often stopping and holding his hands over his ears and eyes, but he kept moving forward, bit by bit, until he became an able hiker who can hike miles on the rugged trails of Mt. Tam. This transformation started with the help of his beloved teacher.
            Our real-life teacher-hero is highlighted in “Heroes: Living, Dead, and Imagined,” my new piece featured in The Renaissance Garden Guy web site. Check under the Guest Writers section to see other stories I’ve contributed. (The site has popup ads but no paywall.)
            Are there real people in your life who parallel your fictional heroes? Let them know you appreciate them, and keep putting one foot forward!
            This week’s Hike Notes from the archives, Kirby Cove, leads readers down a short but steep trail just on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge to an entrancing beach cove.
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This week’s hike from the archives:
Hike Notes 11: Kirby Cove