Thank you Terri Irwin

In 2006 after Australian wildlife expert Steve Irwin, aka The Crocodile Hunter, died I wrote about him on my blog.  For some reason I took his death hard. I spent a month weepy over the loss of him, and he wasn't even one of my idols. I didn't follow his show on a regular basis, but I could not get his death out of my mind.

"I'm not much of an animal person as anyone who knows me will tell you, but I loved watching Steve Irwin's love for them. When I awoke Monday morning to the article in our paper about his death I felt a sadness that has stayed with me all week. He was the most alive person that I have ever seen. Everything about him was real, and he didn't bother to hide his emotions or his joy in anything he did."

Every time I saw the man on television he made me happy with that infectious smile of his. I truly believed that what I saw of him on the box was how he was in real life. He just loved life and it showed. To have that kind of person removed from our world was just so sad to me. The fact that he left behind a wife and two children? That was heartbreaking too. I've tried to follow his family throughout the years, like a doting fairy godmother, and so when ABC announced that Bindi Irwin, Steve's daughter, was participating in this season's Dancing With The Stars I immediately set up my DVR. 

I love DWTS. Like Survivor, I love how the contestants feel so changed for the better after participating. I enjoy that most of the contestants become good friends. I am thrilled that my got-me-through-my-first-role-as-a-mother-host, Tom Bergeron, is on my screen weekly. I loved when Erin Andrews competed and believe her addition to the hosting duties makes the show. It is a show that I watched each season, but knowing that Bindi Irwin was on made this season more special.

The girl is SO much like her father. She lights up a room when she enters and has everybody in it smiling even if they were angry before her entrance. Her enthusiasm for life and everything in it reminds me of her father. I have cried countless times during her segments and laughed just as many. I feel so happy every time she is on the screen and am amazed at how competent and put together she is for the age of 17. She has come so far not just in this show, but in life. And suddenly I realized that while she has so much of her father's characteristics and outlooks her mother, Terri, has done one hell of a job.

If I were a real journalist who reached millions of readers, I would want to say exactly what I'm saying on this blog to the family and friends who read me. Kudos to Terri Irwin. She has raised two special people in her daughter Bindi and her son Robert. While everyone may think of Steve Irwin when they watch these two children it has been Terri who has been by their sides helping them become the teens they are today. She did that before and after the death of her beloved husband, and by golly, she deserves praise. These children are as much a part of her as they are her husband. Thank you Terri Irwin. Thank you for doing the job of great mothers everywhere and raising two beautiful, kind, loving, happy, exceptional children who have brought tons of joy to so many others. On my bucket list is to visit your zoo one day when I travel to Australia so that I may tell you that in person. You are my hero.