by Tina Haskell

Created on: December 11, 2008

Not Your Typical Superhero

When most people think of superheroes, they picture someone like Superman, Batman, Spiderman, the X-Men, or even Wonder Woman. These superheroes wear fantastic costumes comprised of tight spandex, capes, masks, and even fancy belts equipped with futuristic weapons and gadgets. They set out on adventures, from their secret headquarters, with the aid of superpowers to seek revenge, uphold the law, protect the innocent, or fight evil. While these talented crusaders are merely fictional characters in comic books and Hollywood movies, there are plenty of real-life superheroes walking among us. These real-life superheroes do not wear costumes, hide out in secret headquarters, or fly through the air and scale tall buildings. They are ordinary people living ordinary lives. One of them, the best superhero of all time, is my husband Tom.

One of the things that make a superhero a superhero is the ability to put others before themselves. Superheroes are ready and willing to put their own safety and wellbeing on the line in order to protect others. Tom has been doing that most of his life. Coming from a family of Marines, he joined the Marine Corp when he was only seventeen. His father and grandfather were both Marines who served in every war since World War II. They both passed the patriotic spirit of the Marine Corp on down to Tom. Because of this, Tom believes in serving his country in any way that is asked of him. One of those ways was to serve in Operation Desert Storm in Iraq. He spent months in the deserts of the Middle East as a Marine Corp sniper. It was his job to go out ahead of his command and make sure the enemy did not get close enough to attack. He saw many horrible things during his tour in the Middle East, but he did not let that bring down his spirit. He stayed in the Marine Corp and continued to serve several more dangerous tours around the world including Somalia, Columbia, and others.

He finally had to give up his military responsibilities in the mid nineties when his wife, and mother to his two sons, decided to leave the marriage and abandon their children. Tom became a full time single father to the two toddlers. His military commitment was no longer important to him; raising his children was. He took over every aspect of their care. He made sure they were healthy, happy, loved, and educated. He did this all on his own for years, until we met in the year 2000.

I knew as soon as we met that there was something special about this

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