There are all kinds of heroes. They all provide an example somewhere and they’re all unreachable and unique. I have many in my life. John McClane for starters: someone who does everything wrong but saves the world by doing so. Someone with whom it’s not a bad thing when there is a clear sign of exaggeration, because he is sexy and tough at the same time. My fictive hero.

Then there are also the real, tangible heroes. The people who know what you feel even before you can grasp it all yourself. People who will always back you up and at the same time will try to make you strive for more, to get the best out of yourself. People who still give you the kind of clothes that you don’t really wear anymore and who also give advice at times when you don’t want them to, but always with the best intentions and often the desired effect. The pillars in my life where I can always run to, who always have the answers and who are capable of learning from me as well. My parents.

More often around me are those who easily sense it when you need something, without saying a word. Those who make you smile when you’re cranky, who say that you look pretty just because they can and those who join you when you’re scared to go alone. Those who you can’t see for months, but with whom it will always be like before. Those you can sit next to on the couch for hours in silence, with whom you laugh until you cry, hold hands on the street and who brush their teeth while you are on the toilet. My friends.

She is the one that makes you more worried than you can ever be about someone. She who makes you more proud than anyone can ever make you and inspires you to discover parts of yourself that you’ve never paid that much attention to. She who you want to change to much, want to protect so much, but who teaches you even more and always throws her arm around you at the right moment. My little sister.

There is also the one who walks into the room and makes everything right. He who sends a spontaneous kiss through a text message, who can call you for hours, just listening to each other breathing. He who buys tickets to your favorite concert without saying anything and who always lights a candle for dinner. He who stimulates you to do what you do best, who knows what you like and will do everything to give it to you. My dream man.

Enough heroes in my life. And I only hope that I can be a hero for someone, somewhere in a lifetime.