You can be anything you want to be. Except for Superman.

I suppose every parent gets proud over different things.

Something I get really excited about is when our children ask interesting questions. Such as my son at the supper* table:

"Daddy, what do you want to be when you grow up?"

I thought carefully as he waited expectantly.
"When I grow up...I would like to be, umm...let me think. I would like to be very good at playing football with my family, and I would like to belong in the same sentence as Roald Dahl and Mark Twain. That's all. How about you?"

He had spent some time preparing for this.
"Superman."

I tried to be kind.
"Actually, you can be anything you want to be.** Except Superman. There is already a Superman. That position is already taken."

His preparedness was impressive.
"Okay. I want to be Batman."

I sighed.
"Yeah, sadly...there is already a Batman.*** Batman is Batman. You can't be Batman."

"Then who can I be?"

"You need to make up your own superhero identity."

The girls in the family jumped in with suggestions, ranging from Super Johannes to Superboy to some so obnoxiously atrocious**** that I won't even bother reprinting here (my wife is not as well-versed on superhero protocols and naming conventions as I would like).

Along the way I discovered that my daughter wants to be a ballerina or swimmer and Becca, if I remember correctly, also wants to be a superhero when she grows up, but her desired powers escape me at the moment. There's a good chance that when we all grow up, we are going to be a family of extraordinary incredibles. First, we gotta get the superhero names nailed down. That's the big stumbling block.

Suddenly, I'm excited about growing up.

Not now, not today or tomorrow, but soon.

____

*when did "supper" become "dinner?" I like "supper."
**is that a legal requirement for a parent to say?
***Ben Affleck does not know this.
****those ones would be from Becca.

ELEVEN SONGS…

…that have carried our family through this evening; some of which we have accompanied via earsplitting melodic precision with voices and airdrumming:

1. Long Way Home / Mates of State
2. Sleep the Clock Around / Mates of State
3. Sleep the Clock Around / Belle & Sebastian
4. Fire, Fire / M.I.A.
5. Surrender / Cheap Trick
6. Motorcycle Emptiness / Manic Street Preachers
7. Knights of Cydonia / Muse
8. Electricity / O.M.D.
9. Willis / Sea of Bees
10. All My Little Words / Magnetic Fields
11. Don't Let the Sunshine Fool 'Ya / Townes Van Zandt




Happy weekend!