How Are You Brave

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Prompt: How Are You Brave?

Today is day two of the WordPress #bloganuary challenge.

In The View Finder

Seeing this prompt this morning, left me empty and staring at a blinking cursor on a blank screen for the better part of a couple of hours. It had the feeling and could easily be compared to that third-person bio on a resume. Coming up with something grand about myself to articulate and share in hopes of persuading the HR department.

The best I have to share about how brave I am can only come to me in the form of failed comparison.

The Fujifilm X-T20 ACROS image above is my hero and dad. He is as unique as his birthdate of 3/3/33 and will celebrate ninety trips around the sun this March. He last used his limbs to run when he was thirteen years old. His journey of bravery started all alone without a family when his parents dropped him off at Columbus Children’s Hospital -where he would spend the next year of his young life.

My hero transformed his disability into a career of serving others. His long-lasting career of owning and operating his own orthotic and prosthetic business thrived with success. Countless times I would witness his patients enter his office in a wheelchair and leave under their own power of walking on a brand new prosthetic limb that was hand-crafted by my dad.

He stands with bravery on worn limbs with the assistance of a cane and has never -never, not one time have I heard him complain.

Pressing The Shutter

I do not have a story to compare to his bravery nor can I fabricate a fictional piece that would come close to matching. I do have the countless stories that he has generously shared with me over the years about my granddad. Still today -I cling to every word when my dad shares stories of his childhood. All I have of my granddad are those stories, a shared birthday, a few photographs, and how the cancer took him three years prior to my arrival. With just those few things, I’ve spent most of my life wanting to be just like a man I never met.

Time after time the stories passed to me somehow included all the good. I know life for my dad wasn’t glamorous by any stretch but all he’s ever shared was good. It wasn’t until this year while visiting and helping with my mom’s knee replacement, I finally realized upon hearing a tale I’ve heard numerous times before that maybe I didn’t fall too far from the tree.

My grandad stood firm and tossed fuel on bridges for those less fortunate. Maybe he carried the anger with him of not being able to prevent his sons infection. Maybe his heart was just wired to help those in need. This is the area of my hopefulness and fictional fabrication that can lead me to find the bravery that he passed onto me.

The Print

I suppose if I stare into the mirror long enough I will find my way past the vast emptiness I feel that I am. Courageous, fearless, heroical, and valiant are just a few synonyms that Webster provides. Just like my granddad, I will fearlessly and courageously toss a bucket of fuel on the bridges for the underdogs.

Is it actually bravery -I don’t know! I do know I sure have been struggling with it lately.

I read in the book of Matthew to remove the plank from my own eye before picking at the splinter in someone else’s. I will and have bravely prayed for an answer I have yet to receive.

My granddad was a business owner, my dad was a business owner, and I am going to bravely thrust myself into my new community this year to see if I just can’t make my family proud.

I am wanting to build a community of human interaction here in St. Augustine that we can share with the world. We are all underdogs with varying skill sets -let’s focus on our talents, join together, and share.