SALT LAKE CITY — With every superpower known to comics paraded over the screen lately, I’ve thought about what makes a man a super hero. Know what I’ve realized? It’s being an everyday good husband and father.

Recently, and with that perspective, I watched my own husband from a strictly "everyday hero" point of view. He raced home from a stressful workday, scarfed down a quick meal, and carted six children to a seasonal corn maze.

There, instead of doing the He-Man frightening fun, he held hands with our young daughters, dove into the corn kernels (and later shook them from his shoes), and videotaped them on a bull ride. He should have been relaxing with a remote but instead was cheering on a pig race while taking a turn holding our baby. Thoughtfully, he brought me roasted pecans, lugged the diaper bag, and in a manly tender way dressed the baby in a fuzzy bear winter outfit to keep out the chill.

Observing all he did — quietly and without fanfare — I felt washed over with love for him. He could have been doing anything else, anywhere else, but he wanted to be with us.

How often do our good, loyal husbands do the everyday thing when what they really want is to go four-wheeling? Or eat a home-cooked meal? Or not help a pouting child with math, or an obstinate tweener with yet another science fair project? How many men look longingly at a beefy sports car while driving a dying minivan? I think about my husband’s new truck — not brand new but a solid buy, with the tailgate stolen just a few months after purchasing it, and our newly licensed son accidentally scratching the paint down the entire left side.

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Sometimes women think, “Nobody understands what I go through in a given day.” But our husbands do. Even if they don’t verbalize it, they experience it. Often, they just don’t complain about it much, realizing that tomorrow there will likely be more of it.

So this is my shout out to all good, kind, hardworking husbands everywhere. Thank you. Thank you for loving your families, putting food on the table, and setting up Boy Scout tents year after year in any kind of weather. Thank you for changing the oil and hanging the Christmas lights, for showing a son how to "man up," and for apologizing when you let him down. Thank you for being real men and real superheroes. The world truly needs them now more than ever.

Ironically, the other day I was walking down a grocery store aisle and thinking about whether this topic would be right for a post when I saw a living example — a dad in a holiday Superman suit, price checking on aisle seven.

Here’s to heroic husbands.

P.S. With persuasion and permission, I post the picture.

Connie Sokol is a mother of seven, a national and local presenter, Education Week speaker, and TV contributor on KSL’s “Studio 5”. She is the author of "Faithful, Fit & Fabulous," "Caribbean Crossroads," "Motherhood Matters," and "Life is Too Short for One Hair Color." Visitwww.conniesokol.comfor more.

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