The Greatest Man

It isn't very hard for me to pick a hero in my life. My grandpa is my hero. He served in the Navy in World War II and defended our country. But he went a step beyond and did something magical. My mother passed away when I was 2 years old. I was going to be placed into the foster care system, because my father, who has epilepsy, could not care for me. My grandpa talked my grandma into taking guardianship of me so they could raise me. So from the time I was 2 until I went to college when I was 18, I lived with my grandparents. He supported me in every thing that I did, and he loved me as a father would. For the last few years of his life, he was the only father that I knew because my actual father and I refused to speak to one another.

It's been almost 4 years now that he has been gone, and I wonder constantly what my life would have been like if he had let me go into foster care. I don't think I would have had the wonderful opportunities that I had because of him. We traveled the United States when I was younger. I visited every state west of the Mississippi River except North Dakota, Hawaii, and Alaska, and I've visited half the states east of the Mississippi as well.  We took vacations every summer that have made lasting impressions on me, and shape my sense of adventure yet today.

When I got married in 2002, I only had one person I wanted to walk me down the aisle, but grandpa wasn’t physically able to, so my grandma did. But, he met us at the gazebo and he stood behind me and gave me away, because he knew how much it would mean to me. That is what I like to remember about him most. He was always willing to do anything as long as it made me happy. I've gotten to do more and see more than people twice my age, and I owe it all to one man. Without him, I don't want to think where I would have ended up. He will forever be the greatest man I've ever known.