Undercover Super Hero

A Father's Day Posting:

It took me a few years to realize what we had in our midst. He seemed like a regular guy. Like a good solid guy. 'Just a guy'.

Then things started to happen. We were at Hershey Park a dozen years ago and after the kiddie train ride ended one of the tiny passengers began to have what looked like a seizure. While all the other parents froze and no one knew what to do, my man jumped the fence and dove into the situation.

The child's scarf had caught on the train tracks and as the train moved forward, it was choking her. The tears flowed down my face as I distracted our preschool children and watched over their shoulders as their daddy saved the day.

Then a handful of years ago we were enjoying the holiday concert in a gorgeous Salt Lake City shopping area. It was cold out so we went in to the nearby mega bookstore to warm up. As soon as the children scurried off to the kids department there was a commotion near the front register. A young man had fallen to the floor, again looking like he might be having a seizure.

Not one person came forward to help. Not even the sales clerk working the register right next to him.

No one except my man. In a flash he was kneeling by the man's side, doing basic first aid and asking how he could help. He was eventually doused by bodily fluids as the ill man became sick all over him. But he never wavered. He held the young man's hand until the paramedics arrived.

Then just a few years ago we were on one of the last ski runs of the day and just ahead of my man an energetic college kid took just a bit too much air on a ski jump. He went down practically in pieces.

And guess who was there to hold his broken limbs together while the ski patrol made their way to the scene. Yep, my man.

He sent the kids on down the hill, to find me in the lodge, and he stayed with the kid, holding his hand for comfort and his leg to keep it from coming apart.

Then there are the countless other times he's the only one who stopped to help. The single mom with the blown tire on the side of the road. My man was driving cross country in the heat of summer(in a van with no A/C), with a cat and a rabbit in his possession and he pulled over to help the grateful driver. I only found out because I happened to ask where he got the deep gashes on his knuckles.

Too many stories to tell here. But they add up. Year after year. He's there to help.

All in a day's work.

Sometimes I think he might have missed his calling. Maybe he should have been a paramedic, or a doctor. But he is really good at his day job, which has nothing to do with health care. So I have figured out that he is doing exactly what he has been called to do.

He is walking around the planet disguised as a regular guy. Just a dad. Just a husband. Just a suit at the office. But when someone needs help, he's ready.

He's our undercover super hero. Just do me a favor and don't blow his cover.