Connor is at the adorable, yet difficult, five-year-old stage. Among his many obsessions is cutting and taping paper. He tries making all sorts of things with them (no doubt inspired by my friend, Richard, and Katrina's friend, Rachel) and has been lately obsessed with making the Superman symbol. This past evening, he cut out the Superman shield, colored it red with a yellow “S”-like shape, colored several other sheets of paper blue (even though he should have gone red), taped it all together, attached a string, and started jumping off the couch with his self-made cape.

I envy him. I remember being in kindergarten and practicing making Superman symbols. I was so proud of what I could make that I made a superhero symbol for every kid in my class. I had the DC heroes down thanks to the Superfriends show, but when one boy asked for an Iron Man symbol, I gave him a circle with a clothes iron drawn on it. Despite knowing the other symbols, Superman's was the only one I truly cared about.

To this day, my preferred superpower would be wingless flight (especially with Superman's maneuverability). Pragmatically, I believe teleportation, telepathy, telekinesis, or time control (the four T's) would be the most useful, but flight is the one I want. When Bj brought over his Lego Batman 2, I couldn't stop giggling (yes, giggling … it was annoying) as I got to fly Lego Superman around the levels. I loved the flying parts of Super Mario Galaxy, X-Men Legends, and the Infamous games. When you add super-strength, super-speed, heat-rays, x-ray vision, super-hearing, and freeze breath, you have the perfect superhero.

Yet, my adoration of Superman goes beyond his abilities. I appreciate his small-town upbringing, his Christian values (though I lost some of my love for him when he started sleeping around), his search for belonging, his respect for the world and its people, and his belief in America. He is the type of man that I hope to be. As much as I like Batman, Superman's optimistic view of the world is something that I aspire towards having myself. Batman can put fear in the hearts of criminals, but Superman can put hope in the souls of all people.

Gone are the days (and the hair) that I could look in the mirror and imagine myself being Clark Kent. But occasionally, especially on days that I happen to be wearing red and blue, I can almost hear John Williams' masterful score triumphantly announcing the hero. On those occasions, I stand a little straighter, feel a little taller, and am ready to take on the world. Perhaps I need Connor to make a cape for me.