The stories of HeroicStories.
by Maddy Jonas
New York, USA
In June of 1993 I had just graduated from Towson State University, outside of Baltimore, Maryland. I got a job waiting tables at a restaurant near the college. Money was tight and the only place I could afford to live was a local motel that rented rooms by the month.
By John Craggs
Hants, United Kingdom
It was about 2:00 a.m. and the six-volt lighting on my old motorbike and sidecar was barely coping with the cold, wet darkness. Then I nearly beat into the back of a Mini car parked — unlit — under a flyover bridge. My first reaction was ‘Stupid Idiot!’. I was a 50,000-mile-a-year man back then (much of it at night) and I didn’t suffer fools gladly.
By Susan E. Bunting
Hayward, California, USA
It was a beautiful October day. Unfortunately I had to work late since I had run a training session for my department. I lucked out and got a train right away. I even got a seat. As the train left the Embarcadero station, it picked up speed to go through the tunnel under San Francisco Bay. We shook and shimmied as we sped through the tube, which was a normal ride. Then the lights went out, the train slowed and came to a stop. No worry — BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) occasionally had system problems and Murphy’s Law required that a rush hour trip have some bumps along the way.
by Ed Eudy
Auburn, Washington, USA
In 1997 my family decided to go see my sister-in-law on Independence Day in Tonasket, Washington, a five-hour drive from our home in Seattle. Much of the last part of the trip is through endless miles of apple orchards. We hit the road at around 8:00 in the evening.
by Pam Jacobs
Omaha, Nebraska, USA
It was a blustery cold January day in 1978 and college basketball season was in full swing. My manager at work had acquired four tickets to the evening’s game, planning to take his wife, a friend visiting from out of town, and me. Since the game didn’t start until late in the evening, I accepted a friend’s invitation to take in the 5:15 showing of “Star Wars”. After the movie she drove me to the sports complex, where I met my manager and the others.
by Guy Slater
Tennessee, USA
My wife and I moved to the Cumberland Plateau of Tennessee in November of 2005, from a large metropolitan area to a very rural area. While moving we had the help of our adult daughter and our 2-year-old granddaughter.
by Diane Romberger
Jacksonville, Florida, USA
Last year my husband and I were forced off the interstate at 65 mph in another state by a truck. The truck did not stop and, as we headed down an embankment, the car began to spin and ended up smashed into a stand of trees.
by Alain Fontaine
Ile de France, France
17 years ago, I was a young man with an open mind and a goal: to go to Asia, first to Taiwan and learn Chinese, then to Japan and learn Japanese. I figured that already knowing French and English, I would be on top of the world.
by Terry Ann Fielding
Brandon, Mississippi, USA
When I was about 12, my father decided that I needed something constructive to occupy my day; something that wasn’t devoted just to me. At that age I was kind of selfish and felt that the world meant being with girlfriends, dreaming about guys, eating and sleeping. He had other ideas: I was signed up to be a Junior Volunteer at Children’s Hospital in New Orleans.
by Eric Storm
California, USA
In 1998 our first child suffered through months of colic. Every night from 6 p.m. until 4 a.m. we took turns sitting up with our daughter as she cried and wailed. Though neither of us got any real sleep, I at least was able to escape to work. My wife stayed home.