I'm joining the entire Red Room community in writing a short blog post on this week's topic: "Heroes." The form and the content of the blog entry are open to personal interpretation; whether this topic calls to mind a real-life hero, a fictional character, or something else altogether, we want to read your entry. We'll choose at least one of these blogs to be featured on Red Room's homepage next week, and we'll choose three blog writers to receive free books from Red Room Authors. Submit your blog entry by Friday at 10:30 a.m. PDT [GMT-0700] for consideration. Be sure to tag the entry with the keyword term "heroes blog” so we can find it.

One of my heroes is my Dad who helped his southern Ohio River community, Portsmouth, as a young doctor and as a retired resident. I can remember his black bag that he carried on his calls throughout the region, way before the Internet and email! His patients loved him and often sent home-made goodies to him when they simply couldn't pay for his visits. Later, he want back to get another residency in OBGYN and delivered 5,000 babies during his medical career. He was "on call" for most of his life, as I remember, limiting himself to one cocktail before dinner in case the phone rang for an impending delivery. I also remember, we had a six-month phone company strike which meant the police had to come to our house to let my Dad know about any emergency. Again, the Internet was far in the future. Then, after many years as one of the most loved care-givers in the region, he had to give up his private practice and, subsequently, lead a 15 year community effort to provide beautiful, historic murals on the Portsmouth flood wall. The muralist he recommended came from Lafayette, Lousiana, and has since become a vital part of the town by teaching students to help create the painted panels. Because of the harsh winters in the Ohio Valley, many older folks move South, but my Dad choose to stay in the community he loved and continued to play a prominent role in one of the few industries it had. . .tourism. I miss him dearly (he passed away in 2003) but cherish the memories and the knowledge that he, with the help of many others, gave our home town a legacy for all to enjoy. He is not only a hero to me but also to many others who crossed his path, whether they met him as young man or as a very active senior citizen.