My hero is gone...

As everyone knows, Steve Irwin aka Crocodile Hunter, was killed by a stingray on Monday. No doubt this has affected many more people than just me. I've wanted to say something about him on my blog, but I wasn't sure what. I finally realized that I would just say how I felt. My husband wrote a wonderful post on his blog Developer Dispatch that just inspired me. He is even more affected by this than I am. Steve Irwin was his hero and it hit him harder than anything I've ever seen.
Hubby and I discovered him back in 2000. We had heard of him, but had never watched the show. One night while flipping stations we came across his show and we were hooked. He had such passion for what he did. He wanted the world to see these animals up close and really understand them. He made it interesting. I remember growing up watching the Mutual of Omaha show on Sundays. I loved the animals, but it was so dry. Everything was filmed from far away. Granted there was no danger, but it made it all fel far removed from our everyday lives. Steve made us care about these dangerous animals, made us love them. We looked forward to every episode and never get tired of the re-runs. We have even introduced our daughter to his shows. She just knows him as the "crocodile man", but we will continue to watch his shows, so she will understand what he was trying to tell us all. We got to the point, as many did, where we felt like we knew him, his family and everyone that worked at the zoo. There is nothing I can say that will change what happened or make it feel better for anyone reading this, but I needed to say something for me. He will be missed by his family and friends obviously, but he will also be missed by millions of fans. He made a difference in our lives and he died doing what he loved to do. We'll miss you Steve.