I’m referring to myself, of course.
Yesterday Liz and I attended a four-year-old’s birthday party, which had a superhero theme to which the adults were encouraged to conform. I’m not big on playing dress-up, and my one physical talent of note, long-distance running prowess, ranks quite low on the list of desirable superhero traits — probably somewhere between good penmanship and parallel parking expertise. Nevertheless, it occurred to me that I’ve recently been spending a fair bit of time climbing up and down the walls of our house with a belt sander while wearing a costume of sorts (goggles, respirator, earplugs), which seemed like a step in the right direction. If I added a cape and Spandex, I could be … Sand Man, a superhero with grit!
The photo below (thanks, Mo!) shows the Sand Man chillin’ at the party with his superfriend Nacho Libre.
Also present (in varying sizes and developmental stages) were Spiderman, Spiderwoman, a couple of Power Rangers, and a few ambiguously heroic people I didn’t recognize. They were generally well-behaved, though they exhibited less self-sufficiency than one would expect from superheroes. (Example: Spiderman sitting about three feet away from the utensils, wailing, “Mama, I need a spoon!”)
By the way, one of the unique and just-reconfirmed qualities of Sand Man is that he always completes half-marathon road races in a time of 1:09. (Now true for five of my six attempts; the sixth one was a 1:10.) This is great for those who value consistency, not so great for those who like to see actual improvement.
My Track Record 
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