The Heroes

Life often throws us curve balls, and whether you catch them or not, they can spark the most significant changes one has the opportunity of experiencing in a lifetime.

One of the greatest influences in my life has been from a pretty unexpected source.... You would think that a CO-OP with a major company, living on your own in an unknown city, and being responsible for everything for the first time would have the biggest impact for someone not even out of college yet.... and yet you would be mistaken.

One individual, by the secret code name of fox, has quite aptly, and as cunningly as a fox, influenced me to the point of drawing me out of a defensive shell through her good-willed nature, consistent honesty, and appreciable shrewdness. Fox is the picture of fearlessness and a fountain of youthful energy and truthfulness that makes most people either face up to their own behavior or strive to be more life the fox- fair, honest, and thoughtful.

The beginning of our friendship was riffled with tumultuous good-times. I would deliver my most careful sarcasm only to be met with equal candor. This back and forth continued for quite some time until finally enough was enough, and the face off brought the mounting tension and discord to a frenetic crux that taught me one of those lessons that only life can teach...... My barriers subsequently came down, and whether she knows it or not, the course of my life, just as the butterfly flaps its pattern-filled wings and sets into motion the most incredible hurricane, Fox had- through her incredible act of honesty, managed to steer my ship back to course and straight through my own personal storms towards an island of possibilities and life-long happiness.

Now, we laugh, joke, and have developed a fantastic camaraderie that has made my experience at my first job significantly more enjoyable. I am thankful daily to have met the fox, and the fox can know that she has effectually altered the course of my destiny.

Alas, The greatest influences of ones life are directly proportional to the intensity of the fire that doth cast the shadow.

- The flame.