here we come to save the day...

My sons love superheroes and enacting Earth saving adventures. Just so you know, were it not for them, our population could have been ruled by unforgiving dinosaurs, held prisoner by marauding pirates and destroyed by giant arachnids. Just this week.

And let me tell you, those giant scorpions were bad ass. It was touch and go there for awhile.

You should also know they don't want your thanks. Oh no. They just want you, the people, to remember that you can rest a little bit easier tonight knowing they're protecting you. Even when it seems they're busy watching "Full House," you can trust they have an eye trained for evildoers. If you require their assistance, you need only summon a beacon juice box or chocolate chip cookie.

I caught them playing like this earlier in the week, and while it's cute (though I'd never tell them that! Superheroes are many things, but "cute" is not what they want to be thought of!) and I feel safe having their abilities on hand, I actually left them to their play thinking they captured everything it feels like for me to be their mom.

Let me share:

• One day you want to be Spiderman. The next? Batman seems the way to go. When you can't decide, why not just be both? Some days, I feel like my identity is split and I require different capes or masks (never spandex suits, though - too unforgiving!). Like any superhero, I have numerous skills at my disposal. I can help with a math problem and try to knowledgeably answer questions about subjects I know nothing about. I can help create a diorama for a school project using only a shoebox, two lumps of modeling clay and a questionable looking feather found under the bushes in the front yard AND then transform into a wife, skilled at wifely things. It's not easy, but has there ever been a superhero who hasn't been tormented by some aspect of their dual identity? None I can think of. However, they always seem to carry out the job, no matter how it twists at them, because that's just what superheroes do.


• Superheroes have to juggle a lot of balls. Sometimes I think the biggest one they have to keep up is protecting their alter identity from friends and family (props for thinking a simple pair of glasses or a dinner jacket is enough to do it!). However, I have to keep juggling a lot of balls. Sometimes more than I feasibly should. I'm planning calendars, signing releases, paying bills, packing lunches, making phone calls, answering emails, trying to be a good wife, friend and mother by staying connected, maintaining a home, and earning a small paycheck to contribute. Sometimes one of the balls I juggle is labeled "time for me." But I get dropped many times before I ever drop any of the others.


• As prepared as they can be, superheroes don't always know what's going on behind their back. For me, rather than a glowering dragon I might actually sense, it could be a bill I'm unsure how I'll pay this month or the unexpected trip to the doctor because "Captain Invincible" jumped off the swings without sticking his landing. I've learned that even though there's mystery involved in being a parent, I have to let my senses tingle a bit so I can brace myself for the things that are out there, ready to sneak up.

Even though I've been doing this mom thing now for awhile, I'm sure I'll never have all the super powers it would take to be perfect at this job. Besides, I think being a mom would lose some of it's charm if my super power was that I did know everything. I'd rather remember on my own to stop and take in the lessons my two boys offer me, even when all they're doing is something as simple as saving the world. I hope all moms who will be remembered on Mother's Day, including those who swing by here on their webs, invisible airplanes or golden lassos, feel at least a little bit the same.