This is the last day they have given my grandfather to live, so I have been thinking a lot about this lately. Specifically, I’ve been thinking of my grandfather as a hero. Here are a few of his key points:
- He used to be the batboy for the Yankees when Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were on the team (in this sense, he was a hero to all the children his age)
- He brought my grandmother back from England during World War II to marry her [sidenote: her dress was made of parachutes] (in this sense, he was a dashing American hero who wooed a country girl and brought her to the land of the free)
- He and six of his brothers served in WWII at the same time; he earned a Purple Heart for his service [note: I don't know about the rest of them] (in this sense, he was a war hero who paid a price for his country for the rest of his life)
- He was an active firefighter for 66 years (during which time he introduced a strapping young colleague to his most beautiful daughter), and only finally stopped when the cancer robbed him of his ability to stand a few months ago (in this sense, he was a hero for devoting his whole life to saving lives and homes, and for creating my life by introducing my parents)

I don’t even know how I’d want to be remembered. It’s not as a hero, because I’m just no match for that ^^. I came here intending to write an actual answer, but in 13 minutes I haven’t been able to think of one at all, hence the content of this comment. Dammit.