Forever Superman
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When Brendan was 3 years old, he was enamored with a then-cartoon super hero strongman of the 1980s, “He-Man.” It’s ironic because today, Brendan is indeed an incredible athlete, an extremely talented and strong rock climber, and runner. I don’t know if He-Man was a defining influence or not, but nevertheless, something must have rubbed off on him. We were anchored in the Intracoastal Waterway in Florida at the time, and the boys were about to experience their first Halloween. I’m not crafty, but I can sew a pattern and follow directions, so I bought a Superman Cape kit as a substitute for a He-Man costume. Brendan loved it. In fact, he loved it so much so that he refused to take it off for a good year, if not more. He wore it to school, to bed, everywhere. I was mortified when he refused to take it off for an official photo session with Time Magazine for photos that would accompany a feature article on us that appeared in an edition in 1987. His Superman cape was immortalized in the Time Magazine photo, and today the cape is proudly displayed on our wall in a poster-sized frame, accompanied by a framed copy of the Time Magazine article. I think Brendan merits this in my will.
