Kryptonite to my Superman

I remember when Superman first met his kryptonite. My dad had a stroke, or maybe it was a heart attack, the memory is hazy as I was still a teenager. When you're that age, ailments are still kind of an abstraction, as all ailments are, mortality isn't a concern of the young. The point was, I'd never seen my dad sick. Really sick. He'd always been a tall, strapping man (in my eyes), with thick forearms and thicker calves, to look at them you'd think he played basketball his entire life (sadly, I didn't inherit this legacy). When I saw him sprawled out in the hospital bed, a husk of his normal, vibrant self, I was reminded he's human. Not only human, old, his body betraying him in his moment of need. The thought of my dad passing away had never crossed my mind, not even for a fleeting second.

There was an episode of the Fresh Prince that made an impression, the one where Uncle Phil suffers a heart attack. Will can't even go into the room to see him, fearing the illusion of Uncle Phil as his Superman may be shattered. This was what came to mind when I saw him there and things certainly changed after that, not just in my mind but also tangibly. Soon after he stopped driving a car, his eyesight giving way to cataracts. His gait became a hobble, his flesh loosened into a wrinkly sweater, his long-winded stories became longer winded, somehow (instead of his Herculean calves I inherited this trait).

I won't have him forever, or anyone for that matter. When my pal Leo recently dealt with the passing of his sis, Brenna, I sometimes found it difficult to find consoling words for him (and was reminded that youth isn't a deterrent for an early demise). When my cousin Uli recently suffered the loss of his pooch, Chewie, whom he loved more than most humans, I again felt achingly speechless. I saw my dad laid out in the hospital today and was reminded that who knows when his time will come and it makes me wonder, what's worse: a sudden loss or the deterioration of an individual?

I suppose there's no right answer, everyone at the end of the day wishes for more time, there's never enough (even if my dad's most common phrase is "hay mas tiempo que vida"). I guess it's about enjoying the time you've got and holding on to those memories that bring a smile to your face. Every Superman has his kryptonite, right?