I was in the grocery when a guy whom I recognized immediately came up to me and spoke. Funny, I recognized him even though I had not seen him for about 40 years!

This guy as a ten or twelve year old kid, came to my rescue one day in an alley. My siblings and I attended Catholic school. In order to get to our school, we had to cross essentially 'enemy territory.' At that time the public elementary school kids (some of them) seemed to delight in constantly teasing and chasing us Catholic school kids. The fact that we were wearing uniforms made us easy targets as well.

One day, on the way to school through the alley, the route we always took (it was a safe alley) my brother and I encountered a small mob (about two or three toughs) who of course wanted to chase us, the 'Catholic' school kids, and ridicule us as well. The guy whom I met again in the grocery store, at that time a child himself, did a brave thing and defended my brother and myself against these toughs! At which, my brother and I were granted passage through the alley and off to school. We actually never had another incident after that day!

All of this is to say that some of our most important and memorable battles in life occur in childhood. This is the staging area it seems for the rest of our lives...and we do not realize it's importance. Now, think of some of your most pressing childhood memories. I bet you will not have to think hard. The events that occur to us as children shape us as adults. We do not forget those hurts, embarrassments, failures, successes, and accomplishments. Even when we are eighty, we remember vividly the day we caught the homerun ball, danced with the perfect guy (guys too) and other talismans of our childhood.

The other thing about childhood is that parents are usually NOT around for these most important and self-esteem generating occasions! We, as children, kids, and young adults are essentially alone with who and what we are! And we carry those memories of success or failure in these events the rest of our lives. So, what can we as parents do to help our children?

(1) Listen closely to the unspoken!

(2) Remember the quicksand of childhood (it is not the TV generated, commercially sweet period of life we are often misled to believe)

Childhood is hard because it is the initial and pure assimilation into the world! Childhood requires more instincts, basic values, and moxie than any adult, CEO, or robber baron will ever muster!

And so, that day in the grocery store recently, I said thank you, again to a man-child who at the time, in childhood terms, saved my life, my dignity, and our (my brother and I) sense of self with his overarching bravery and show of integrity!

AUTHOR/SPEAKER, Adrienne Zurub is a cardiothoracic RN on the open heart/heart transplant team at Cleveland Clinic with over twenty-five years of open heart experience. Ms. Zurub is a CNOR (certified nurse operating room) with a bachelor's degree in Psychology, a master's degree in Philosophy as well as her nursing degree.

She is the AUTHOR of 'Notes From the Mothership ~ The Naked Invisibles, a nonfiction work that incorporates and coalesces elements of her open heart experiences with other aspects of her attentive, and at times randy life, due out 11/2007.

She is a Speaker and member of Toastmasters, NSAOhio chapter, and an active volunteer with the Cleveland Clinic Speakers Bureau speaking throughout the communities of Greater Cleveland. She is an AKA, and a member of AORN. She trained at the American Comedy Institute in New York City, Second City and with Judy Carter in NYC and California. She is a Comedian,Actor and pOet.

Peep her at: http://adriennezurub.typepad.com, http://chasewunderlickpublishers.com.cn or http://thenursewhisperer.com