Every Day Is A Gift

 Yesterday I walked by one of those free little libraries in Mechanicsburg and opened the door. Inside I found an autobiography of Tammy Duckworth called Every Day Is A Gift. Born in Thailand, she grew up with her American father and her Chinese/Thailand mother plus a younger brother. For a long time her father supported the family well. After the Vietnam war ended, jobs for her father were few and hard to get. Tammy, her father, and her younger brother moved to Hawaii where they were almost homeless. Her father was a veteran and sought help from the American Legion. They applied for food stamps, reduced lunches at school, and got housing. To make ends meet Tammy and her brother would bring food home from school. Her father wouldn't settle for a menial job. One day, in tenth grade, Tammy got frustrated. She told her father off and the next day she got a job hawking cruise flyers in Honolulu. She also sold roses to people in cars on the street. She graduated from the top of her class in Honolulu. Her family moved to Virginia to be near her father's family while she went to school in Washington, D.C. Eventually she joined the ROTC. She wanted to be a helicopter pilot. Not unusually smart, she had to work hard for her grades. While in Iraq flying Black Hawk helicopters through combat zones, her helicopter was struck by an RPG. She nearly died and became a double amputee. While recovering at Walter Reed hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, she became an advocate for other veterans. To this day she is a dedicated public servant. I enjoyed reading her story and I finished the entire book in one afternoon.