"LIfe... its really never that bad"

After reading "Rumi, Underoos and the Heroic Journey" It made me stop and think. A friend of mine once said "I want to be sure that the people in my life know that they are important to me." Ever since that night I have started to try and live by that saying. Heroes can be anything from the baby that puts a smile on your face on that bad day when nothing seemed like it would make you feel better, to a life saver. A hero of the moment, a hero of the day, a hero of the year, or a hero of a lifetime. In my opinion all are heroes and all are equally important.
My hero of my lifetime came around during a very rough time. I was feeling lower than low. My heart felt heavy and life really didn't matter much to me anymore. This guy came into my life only intending on being an ear for me to tell my problems to and a shoulder to cry on when I needed it. Little did he know at the time, he had saved my life. He is the friend that I mentioned told me about letting people know they were important, so once my life turned to the better, he was the first one I would try my new policy on. I sat him down and told him of my plans of suicide, I informed him that he was the reason I was still alive. Thinking back on it now, another thing he told me was "its never really that bad." It was more true then he knew. My mother and father have been divorced from the time that I was two years old. My father remarried when I was 7 and my mother remarried when I was 9. I love my step mother, and loved my step father until that day. I was sick in bed in my room downstairs when he left, he packed his bags and left my mom a voice mail saying that me and she were incompatible with him and that he didn't want to be married to her anymore after 7 years of marriage. He took my step siblings with him. My step sister was my sister, she was two years younger than me, but she was my best friend. I cried for days hearing that I couldn't see her anymore. My step father showed his true side after that point. He told his best friend that the only reason he married my mother was to get money from her to raise his kids. He took everything that he could. While they were married he started a business using her money and only a few months later left. Also while they were married he quit his job to be the "stay at home dad" and lived off of her income. He took half of her retirement and has left us to live in a 5 bedroom house. Our family went from 7, to three over night. My blood brother lives 2 hours away from us so its just my mom and me in this house. He pays very little to my mom and yet she has to pay house payments and still he gets half the selling price of the house. Everything he could take, he has. My stepbrother who was 6 years older than me, just before my stepdad left, was my idol. I adored him. Yet one day that too changed. He decided that he and his girlfriend no longer wanted anything to do with me. He spoiled his half siblings and quit speaking to me for no reason at all. He convinced my sister to also quit speaking to me for a time. She finally broke one day and told me that he had fed her stories that weren't true and convinced her that my mom and I didn't really love her, that it was all a show. I had lost my idol and shortly after lost my step father. My friends saw how upset I was and didn't know how to handle it so they too drifted away. My mother was a wreck so I couldn't turn to her. My father, who had been a huge part of my life, moved 18 hours away from me (to texas) and I felt I couldn't turn to him either. I felt alone and unwanted. Matt changed all of that for me. He became my hero. My mom found a new boyfriend just recently, my dad and I talked about how hurt I was when he left, my friends have come and gone, but I made new ones who I know will never leave my side. So my life did change for the better and I do stand by the statement "its never really that bad" because without belief in that I wouldn't have lived long enough to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Not all heroes who save lives jump in front of a moving bus to literally save lives. Matt was so happy when I told him how much he meant to me. It changed the nature of our friendship and now we are closer than ever. I challenge you to tell the people in your life how much they mean to you. I challenge you also to try and remember that even when life is at its lowest point, it never is really bad enough to take your life over. Even though I didn't mention every struggle, I still know there are people who have had it worse than me, however I truly believe there is a light at the end of every tunnel.

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