02/22/06

This is Amber she does not realize this yet but she is the strongest of the family.  She is able to keep such a wonderful personality in times of need.  She shows great courage when the wife and myself break down.  Such a wonderful daughter to be loved forever.

Just a week or so before we took Nik down to Primary's Children's Hospital and found out that Nik has severe leaking in his heart and will have to have valve replacements in the near future, Amber wrote this for her school reflections paper.  God Bless Amber.

A Different Kind of Hero!

            There are Heroes located all over the world.  People who take walks outside or pass you by may be ordinary people to you.  However, through the eyes of someone else,   maybe that person, who passed you by, is a true hero to them.  Heroes to me don’t always have to be Superman, Spiderman, or any other comic book character that children love and admire.  A hero could be your friend, a teacher, or even the man who works at the supermarket. Heroes come in many different shapes and sizes and come with different personalities too.  Any way you look at it, there has been a hero in all our lives, someone we have admired, someone who has done something to help us in life.  

            My different kind of hero is only four years old.  He has an imagination bigger    than this universe.  He is small in size and has the cutest smile that could change tears into laughter in five seconds, tops.  Though he is my younger brother and is adorable, that isn’t why he is my different kind of hero.  He is my hero because of what he has gone through in such a short amount of time.      

           Nikolas was born on January 2, 2000, and was what my mom called, “The perfect child.”  We were surprised to find out that he had a heart defect that was going to require surgery.   It was hard for me and the rest of my family to see my littlest brother go through surgery, but we all knew it was for the best.   On August 4, 2000 he had open- heart surgery to correct his defect.  Everything went great, the surgery was a success.  Our family no longer had to worry as much and it was a great relief for my mother to see that he was going to grow into a healthy boy.

             Nikolas Taylor Roybal is my different kind of hero because of the things he has taught me.  Though he is four, I have learned so much from him. He has taught me that there is always something good to look forward to and to never doubt the littlest of things.  He showed me how to look at life with a whole new perspective.  To enjoy every waking moment from the time you wake up, to the time you have to go to sleep.  To brighten the life of others and never, and I mean never, doubt yourself.  

             Nik is a true hero to me and my family and I’m so lucky to have such a loving brother whose smile will forever brighten my day.  I hope that one day he will see how much he has influenced my life and I hope I can make him feel the same way I do.  Though more things have come and will come in his life that will worry us all, he is brave and shows courage even when the rest of us don’t.     

         His heart was once broken and now is fixed.   His smile will last forever and his laughter heard from miles away.  His joy will spread to everyone and everyone will see that he is just a kid wanting to play and wanting to see the world.  To others who look at him they will never know that he was once very sick.  To them he is just a happy child!