Superman

I am married to Superman. He would deny it, and frankly, I also would have denied it ten years years ago . . . but over the past several years, it has become very apparent to me that he is as close to Superman as I am ever going to get. Let me tell you why.

Don and I have been through the normal marital struggles, but I would say that they have been minor . . . and rare. We don't fight often, though Diana would say we raise our voices a lot! But I knew early on that I had found a family-oriented, faithful man to walk with through life. As I watched him with our children, I saw a gentle, loving guy who thoroughly loved his children. Whether he was tying Kenneth in knots (you'll have to ask Kenneth about that!), or fishing in the gutter while sitting on the curb with Diana, whether he was dressing up for the 4th of July parade or building a pirate ship, he tried to make sure he kept the kids as his primary goal. That's what good dads do . . . he had watched his good dad parent four boys, and Don had taken really good notes.

Over the years, I have seen Don do some things that I thought we extraordinary. One time we were driving the Willie to its first (or maybe second) football game. Suddenly, on the one-lane road as we approached the bridge over the Smoky Hill River before arriving in Manhattan, a car started coming straight toward us, trying to pass five other cars coming our way. If I had been driving, we would have ended up turned over or in the river. But with Don at the helm, he just slowly pulled over on the shoulder, allowing the drunk driver to go by us. Don said he saw the cars behind us peeling off on the shoulder as well. I don't know what happened to the other driver, but I do know that a major accident was averted because Don is a quick - but not knee-jerk - thinker!

But I didn't realize Don was Superman until last year. In April, he was at an inspection when one of his employees fell through a hole in the floor. Don, always a fast-thinking guy, called for a ladder, and as quickly as possible, he was down the hole assessing the situation. His quick thinking probably saved the man's life. Then about three weeks later, we were coming home from Princeton. We were waiting for the shuttle at the hotel at 4:00 a.m. The driver drove up, jumped out of the shuttle, and told us he would be back. I looked up to see the shuttle starting to roll back down the hill, headed for a lake. I . . . tried . . . to . . . move . . . but. . . I . . . couldn't. I did say, "Don", and within a flash, he had jumped into the van, slammed on the brake, and probably saved the driver his job!

Since then he hasn't done anything quite so dramatic, but that was when I realized that Don is a good one to have around in a crisis situation. So this morning, when Sepia had his seizure, it was a good thing Superman was along to carry him home . . . because I couldn't.

So for this Father's Day weekend, I want to thank Superman for his heroic - and his not-so-heroic- deeds . . . and for being such a fine father and husband. Happy Father's Day, Don!