Heroes

 I don't really have a lot to share today.  I didn't get much done last week that was special.  We had a lot going on and my thoughts are mostly with the people of Ukraine.  I started a block for the flower garden quilt and I bought some yarn for a pair of socks, but that's about it.  We had an unexpected freeze and spent time covering and uncovering plants.  We were supposed to get a new washer/dryer, but the freeze delayed deliveries, so they're coming today.  And, we voted.  Sometimes life is just a bunch of little stuff that happens.  

But, it was a good week for finding heroes.  

This is Kayleigh.  Kayleigh has Down's syndrome and she's our neighbor.  Kayleigh is a hero.  So is her Mom, despite (or maybe because of) the fact that she keeps turning the attention to Kayleigh's accomplishments instead of her own.  Last week, Kayleigh was the first person with Down's to finish the Austin marathon, all 26.2 miles of it.  Kayleigh has a wall of ribbons from other events, including half marathons, but this was her first full marathon.  And, I don't think she's going to stop there.

Kayleigh hasn't always been a marathoner.  At one time, she had multiple issues, including weight, sleep apnea, and high blood pressure.  Then her Mom decided she needed to do something and she did.  

We've watched Kayleigh develop as a runner.  She's gone from walking to jogging to running over several years.  She's gone from crying her way through it to being excited and waving back at us with a great deal of pride in her eyes.  And, she baked and brought us cookies last Cmas.  Kayleigh is a remarkable woman and a hero.  She and her Mom paint rocks and write inspiring thoughts on them and put them in the yards of neighbors.  When I walk the dog, I see their stones, smaller than a fist, painted brightly.  A couple we found in our yard have been featured on my blog.  

Kayleigh's Mom is a hero too.  She decided she wasn't going to lose her daughter to the bad health that takes so many other differently abled people while they are young.  She got Kayleigh up.  She put up with the complaints and the negative energy and she just kept pushing.  And, pushing.  And, pushing.  One day, she was talking to Rob and said 'please don't think badly of me when I sound like I'm being mean to her.  It's the only way I can get her up and moving.'  Quite the opposite.  We think more highly of her for finding a way to help her special needs child and never giving up.  Day after day after day after day.  You do what you can do and sometimes what you can do is change a life.  And she has changed her daughter's life.  

We are proud of them both and proud to know them both and glad we are their neighbors.  GO KAYLEIGH!!

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Now we're below the line, so you know what's coming next.  

If you're like me, then you're glued to the news from Ukraine.  And, what we're seeing is true heroism.  Oh, I'm sure there's plenty of bad going on among the Ukrainian people, but if you're willing to see it, there's so much more good.  It seems like a good day to talk about heroes and villains.  

This is what a hero looks like when he's not being a hero.

This is what a coward and a traitor looks like in his downtime.

This 80 year old man trying to join the defenders of his country is a hero.

This is a coward, trying to run away in a crisis because it's cold.

Grandma Nadya is a hero.

This is a nazi sympathizer.

These are ordinary heroes.

                        

This is not.

This is a contrast between a hero that fights with his people and a coward that hid in a bunker when ordinary citizens protested too close to where he was staying.

If you're having trouble telling the difference, it's because you can't tell the difference from looking at someone.  You have to listen to what they say.  I hope the predictions that Ukraine is the end of Putin are true.  And, I hope the stink of Putin takes down Trump and his gang of moron traitor thugs.  

May God bless America.  And, Ukraine.  I pray for a free and democratic world where we help one another and build one another up instead of tear one another down in a ridiculous grab for power.  

Be well.  Have a good week.  Pray for us all.