Happy Birthday Grandpa!

I was driving Ethan (my 13 year old son) home the other day when he said,
"Hey Mom, y'know what I was thinking about today?"

If you know Ethan, you know that this could have been anything from  a new app to finger-boarding obstacles to a new shirt at Tilly's to  magnetic roads that wouldn't allow cars to crash into each other.
So I answered, "No buddy, what?"
"Well, I was thinking about when I had the flu, and I threw up like every 5 minutes  and I thought I was going to die.   And then you called Grandpa and he got you that little pill to give to me  and I was all better in like....7 minutes!
(Grandpa is a retired pediatrician...just wanted to throw that in there...)
I think that makes Grandpa a superhero."
I smirked and said, "Grandpa is pretty awesome isn't he."
And then he changed the subject to space travel...but while he was dreaming about rockets, I was still thinking about my Dad.

Ethan didn't really know how close he was to the truth.
My Dad has always been Ethan's superhero.
The kind of superhero that got out of bed in the middle of the night when his  pregnant daughter's water broke two months early and his son-in-law was working in Sweden, and drove like a bat-out-of-you-know-where to get me to the hospital.
The kind that held my hand during the emergency c-section and watched  every single move the surgeon and neo-natologist made.
The kind that watched over that little baby that couldn't breathe well when  they took him to another hospital for better treatment.

The kind that walked into the NICU and made sure every single nurse, doctor and administrator knew that the little soul in the 4th incubator was HIS grandson,  and they all better do everything they knew how to do to get him home safely.
And after a few weeks....he came home....perfect.
But he never stopped being that superhero.

He kept track of every milestone and measurement.
He has treasured every smile, every giggle, every hug.

Hs rushed over for every cough and fever so that my boys would never have to go to an urgent care.
He'd say, "you don't want to take them there honey, too many germs.  I'll just come over."
He's done all this countless times, and every time I am beyond thankful. 

Happy Birthday Dad. Thank you for always watching over all of us. Your care and attention has never gone unnoticed, not even once.
But you know what....even if you never had magic feel better pills, even if you'd never made one house call, you'd still be our superhero, just for loving us.