Wife of a Superhero

I am at a BBQ a few night's ago, sitting around talking to a few different women. None of us are long term friends but we have been brought together by the one common factor, our husbands work together. Yes it is true, my Superhero husband has a day job. Saving the world doesn't seem to pay the bills! ;)

Women have a unique ability - some might call it our super power - to figure out if they can open up and share with other women they don't know that well. I call it a sixth sense. And that is what these women were; women you could trust.

We started by making small talk and it soon evolved into a deeper conversation. There were a variety of subjects but one topic of conversation hit home. "Panic." For whatever reason, our fears began to surface. Some about ourselves but more so about our children, and the whole, "What if...", became a topic.

Judy began, "Recently, with summer here, I've been really panicky about my kids drowning. In fact the other night Jason started coughing in the middle of the night, I woke up and ran up to his room and my husband followed... I told him how I thought our son was drowning. He told me to go back to bed, he would take care of him and that I just needed some sleep." Our conversation went on from there about their fears for their children from being kidnapped to the "sex talk" to molestation to a story about some guy at Walmart that was "fondling" children standing right next to their parents. It's the world we live in and after this talk, I began to agree with my husband's ideas that someone needs to save it!

It was at this point that I told them about a program I was in in college called TRUST. It was the U Of U's Child Abuse Prevention Program. I was an actor, teacher and sort of hands on guidance counselor with the program. We toured this assembly all over Utah to elementary schools teaching children how to trust in their own feelings. A truly wonderful program that spoke to kids, because, let's face it, as adults we some how forget how to talk to our children when it comes to subjects that "panic" us. The one true message that still sticks with me today, "Trust your feelings". It is the one thing I want to pass on to all children still to this day.

Maybe all this sticks with me because I was a very panicky kid. I had huge fears that someone would kidnap my little sisters or the world was just basically going to end... Some of this panic stays with me as an adult but, as an adult, I've learned to manage it when I allow myself to trust myself and my feelings. You know what is right or wrong. You know when you have harmed someone or hurt their feelings. You know when you feel safe or when you don't, who you can trust or who you can't. It is tuning in to your feelings and allowing them at times to drive. This is what I need to share with Judy and the others. We all panic, but, like we trusted each other that night, we need to learn to trust ourselves and our own feelings.

I think sharing this message, we can all do a bit to save the world!