A typical hero is someone who has done a great act of courage or something likewise that makes them deserving of admiration. Mother Theresa, Ghandi, Christ, even parents and grandparents are all examples of well admired heroes.

Heroes are generally people who are older than you or have lived before you, so that they can be considered role models and examples of how to live your own life.

When I think on who I’d consider to be my personal heroes, I of course think of my parents, and teachers who I’ve met throughout the years, but a few other names come to mind:

Bryan Allen, Andrea Allen, Kellen Marcucci, Grant Marcucci, Lennox Marcucci, Reagan Allen, Johnna Marcucci, and Carsanne Allen.

These names belong to some of the strongest people I have ever met. They all have been through more trying experiences in their few years than most people will ever know. To say I’m impressed by their courage in everyday life would be an understatement.

While all of my siblings (including the Marcuccis) are heroic examples to me, I want to talk specifically about my sister Andrea. Andrea is 12 years old and is in 6th grade at Sloan Creek Intermediate School. She gets phenomenal grades, and already does way better in school than I ever have.

I’ll probably always tease her about one night when she was in 4th grade; she had been sick and missed about 3 days of school, and after her first day back, was heavily weighted with make-up homework. Of course her teachers didn’t expect her to get it all done in one night, but she worked so hard to try to finish it all, and when my mom finally told her to go to bed, she fell asleep crying because she hadn’t been able to do it all.

I tried to tell her that even if she got low grades on what she hadn’t finished, which I knew she wouldn’t have, fourth grade really wasn’t going to affect her future. She still cried herself to sleep that night, and she still gets straight A’s, so I probably should have been the one listening to her.

She is an amazing dancer, way better than I could ever hope to be. She’s been dancing competitively with Cindy’s School of Dance for several years now, and I’m a sucker for watching her dance. She probably doesn’t know this, but I tear up every time she takes the stage. She’s so beautiful when she dances, and has the most amazing stage presence. She practically radiates, and you can just tell that she sincerely loves what she’s doing.

She’s had some troubles with her knees recently, but she keeps dancing through the pain, which shows so much of her work ethic. She has said that doing some of the simplest moves can cause her pain, yet she pushes through because she loves what she’s doing, and she doesn’t want to hurt her team’s performance.

She’s about to enter the infamous years of the pre-teen, when life is hectic and crazy and everyone at school gets mean, and your parents become akin to the dementors guarding the Prisoners of Azkaban. I know that those years were really rough for me, lots of screaming at my parents and coming home crying and just having a really hard time with life, but I can’t imagine having to go through those years without my mom.

My mom became my best friend, but not after many rocky years in which I hadn’t realized just how much she helped me until after it was all over. Luckily Andrea has our stepmom Stephanie, who has proved to be an amazing woman and mother in the months that she has been here, but these next few years for Andrea will be very different than they were for me, because not only will she be navigating through her life, but also through this new family that we have.

Five years ago, my sister Reagan was born, and Andrea had to adapt from being the baby of the family, to being in the middle of the family, and now Andrea has found herself as one of the oldest three in the nine siblings. The way she has handled all of these changes amazes me every day, as her responsibilities in the home have evolved and she has risen to meet every expectation while balancing the new stresses that come with growing up.

When the Marcuccis moved in, Andrea had to give up her room and move in with me for the next few months before I leave for college. Putting two teenage sisters into one room together sounds like a scary task, but honestly, I don’t think we’ve fought about sharing a room once since she moved in with me in December. If anything, it’s only made it more fun. I love cuddling with Andrea and watching Netflix all day and talking about anything and everything together. I have such a great relationship with her, and many of my friends have noticed how much love we have for each other. I can talk to Andrea about anything and if we have any sort of fight, it’s quickly resolved.

I’m grateful for the opportunity I’ve had to spend so much more time with her before I leave, and I will honestly miss sharing a room with her. Andrea is a remarkable example to me of the type of person who deserves to be called a hero. I hope that I can be more like her when I grow up.