My hero?

Over the years, I have tried to be a good Uncle and mentor to my nephew C.  C grew up in a town filled with muli-million dollar homes where the Hummer's were as prolific as the MBA's.  However his parents were average people with average jobs and they did not indulge in the rampant materialism that permeated the town.  C's dad suffered from OCD wherein he placed the cleanliness of his house before the needs of his child.  C was never allowed to play with his toys in the living room and would be severely reprimanded if he forgot to take his shoes of when he entered his house.  C was a "good kid" up until he was cut from the basketball team in junior high school.  He was a good athlete up until that point but suddenly gave up all interest in sports.  He began to change and started to become a "problem child".  Neither of his parents were prepared to deal with this change in personality and C's behavior became worse and worse.  He did not graduate with his class and has had skirmishes with the law in recent years.  C also struggles with drugs and has been in and out of rehab over the past year.  I have always opened my home to C and he has been spending a lot of time with us recently.  He always went to the lake with us in the summer and loves to wakeboard.  Last weekend his Dad melted down once again and C came to our house to get away.  I took him out for coffee and we talked for a long time.  During the conversation he told me that he was envious of my two boys and he wished I was his father.  I was taken aback by his comments but thanked him for his kind words.  He then told me that he once wrote a paper for school about his hero.  He told me that the paper was based on me.  I sat back in disbelief, stunned at his revelation.  I reached over and hugged him and said that I was proud to be his hero and I would always be there for him. 

The point of my story is this...  Who is my hero?  Who will be there for me?  Lately I feel incredibly lonely and isolated and my whole life is focused on working hard to pay for my kids education.  Why didn't I have someone in my life that helped me to learn how to save for college so that I would not be faced with this incredible burden?  Don't get me wrong; I am grateful that I have a job that allows me to work more hours and generate more money.  I could use a hero though...