Golden Aged Heroes

I wish I could say that I was Boy Wonder’s favorite superhero but I’m not. Like most people, he is a fan of the Golden Age of heroes. The OG’s. The one’s I steal all the gadgets in my utility belt from. On the West Coast he has the dynamic duo of IncrediPapa and IncrediGramma and GreatGrams. On the East Coast, he has Super Grammie, and two GreatGrands. IncrediMom and I are outnumbered! We never stood a chance.

That’s because grand-parents are the cool version of parents. They might look a little like mom and dad but they’re like a zillion times more fun. “What do you mean I can bang the pots and pans around the kitchen?! Mom and Dad never let me do that!”

Just going to a grandparent’s house is a big adventure. Boy Wonder may have all the cars and tracks he desires at home but there’s something really special about driving his bus on the tracks at Super Grammie’s house. The same goes for running his cars up and down the sidewalk in front of Gramma and Pappa’s house. It’s the same as he would have done at home but it’s better at their houses.

Everything is better with Grandparents, even bedtime. After two weeks of waking up at one-thirty and not going back to sleep, Grammie offered a sleepover to let us beleaguered IncrediParents catch a good nights sleep. I got in touch early the next morning, sure that Grammie needed rescuing after Boy Wonder kept her up all night. Nope, he had slept all night for her. I listened as she asked him over the phone,

“Do you want to go home with Daddy?”
“No! I play at Grammie House!”
“Sorry David, he doesn’t want to come yet.”

I can’t wait to be a grandpa but not the lazy ones that sit in bed all day, like they do in Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. I’m going to be like Bruce Wayne in Batman Beyond, old and retired but schooling the new guy every chance I get. That seems like the privilege of the Grands. They can be fun because their hard work is over. They can say yes when a parent says no and yell “Woo Hoo! They’re gone! Let’s raise hell!” as we walk out the door. They can smile with sympathy when an IncrediParent makes a mistake and say “Glad that’s not me anymore.” Then they fill the kids with sugar and send them home to us.

So here’s to the heroes of the Golden Age, Grands and the Great-Grands. From you, we learn how to be, how not to be, and most importantly, how to survive and thrive as an IncrediParent. Keep fighting crime and seeking adventure. That’s what makes you Boy Wonder’s favorite. Your portraits will always hang on our IncrediHall of Justice.