People I admire

It's not often that we recognize people in our lives for their achievement. Most people only get recognition from their employers or volunteer organizations, but I want to recognize a few people for their outstanding achievement as decent human beings.

I'd like to recognize my brother-in-law Chad Yarrington for outstanding achievement as a caring father and loving husband while his wife Sara has been in the hospital for the past three weeks.

Each day Chad gets up at 5:00 a.m. to get ready for work and to take his son, Luke to daycare. Then he's off to work at Ford where he may soon be laid off from his job, but he keeps on putting in a hard day's work. At the end of the day he rushes home to pickup Luke from daycare and then drives 90 minutes to visit Sara in the hospital and to let her spend time with Luke. After their visit, he makes the long drive home, feeds and bathes Luke and puts him to bed. Then Chad gets about 30 minutes to himself before going to sleep. After a night's rest, he does it all over again without complaint.

I'd also like to recognize Sara Yarrington for her perseverance and patience that is required to take care of her baby. It's not easy to sit in the hospital day after day missing her family, but she knows that it is necessary and she doesn't complain either.

My brother Rob is a great guy. He's my youngest sibling and I totally love him. Today he surprised us by showing up for Finnegan's birthday which is a big thing because he lives in Southern Californina! Rob has always been a generous and caring person in my life, but today he showed us how much he loves Finnegan and that was the greatest gift of all.

The person I admire most is my husband, Doug. He's such a great father to Finnegan. He enjoys all the little things that make fatherhood worth the experience. Planning Finnegan's birthday party was a major priority and it took a week of thoughtful planning and execution which resulted in a successfull event.

The most admirable traits that has are his commitment to our family's well-being and happiness. Doug enjoys taking care of Finnegan, teaching him how to set the table, clean the house, mix pancake batter and how to take a bath. My heart is filled with love when I see them happily doing things together.

I wish that I could nominate all these people for some special award because they are the unsung heroes in my life who work so hard to be good human beings and great family members. Without them my life would be so different and I am so grateful that I am in their family. They make me want to be a better person, who loves freely, gives generously and appreciates all things that come my way.