“The girl recalled all the times they had sat and talked about when she was growing up in the tiny town with a post office and a grocery. She wanted to be a cowboy. She wanted to be Roy Rogers and ride off into the sunset. She lamented about how she started the only Roy Rogers Rider’s Club in her neighborhood. She was the president after all and backed up the conversation with a picture of a tiny blonde, curly headed girl in a cowboy get-up complete with holsters, cap guns, and chaps. She grew and ran barefooted through the dirt, made mud pies and longed to run away with the circus. These were the times she missed. Laughing with her mother and learning all the things that made her the person she was.”
The quote above is an excerpt from a story I wrote about my mom called the “Roy Roger’s Riders Club”. My mom was a great believer in imagination and she did everything she could to make sure that my imagination was cultivated. She made sure that every Halloween I had a costume. As I got older she and my grandmother made sure I knew how to sew and how to make my own costume if I wanted to. After a bazillion school plays that required parents to sew the costumes and foot all the expenses I guess the decided it was time I learned the trade. I did that quite often. I loved creating, painting, drawing and making up my own stage productions. One that included a gown that came off of a doll that my mom had for years. She was a big doll and the dress fit me just right. Granted she wasn’t thrilled with me but she let me continue on with my great stage show.
She had also shared with me over the years some things she had kept from her childhood. She had a few treasured things. Some were stolen by people who we hand entrusted to stay with her when she became ill, however that is a rant for another blog and another day. She held closely a Lone Ranger Round Up snow globe. She also had a Roy Rogers mug. After she passed away these treasures of hers became mine. I will pass her treasures and her passion for them along to my son. I often wonder, with the new Lone Ranger Movie coming out soon, what she would think about it. Would she enjoy it, or would she be a Lone Ranger purist and believe her Lone Ranger is the best that ever will be. She was a cowboy nerd, no doubt about it.
In the interest of costuming, cosplay and passing down family owned nerdy passions, I decided to talk a bit about the art of cosplay. Yes, I see it as an art because it is truly amazing what some people can do to create characters in real life. Young and old, it is amazing what fans can do to make their favorite characters become a walking, talking, living, breathing thing of beauty and tribute to their favorite characters.
Tomorrow is the first day of the Metropolis Superman Celebration. The 35th Anniversary of the celebration and the 75th Birthday of Superman himself. It’s truly a big year. It will also be my son’s first Celebration. He is 3 now and, because of his nerdy parents, is a super hero fanatic. I had talked to him about what he would like to be for Halloween this year. He promptly said Green Arrow. I told him that I could make that happen. I wanted to make that happen for the celebration, alas, he is 3 years old and it’s June and humidity is not your friend in this part of the country. You can figure out what would happen from there, so we are opting for a Superman t-shirt until he gets a little older. I was surprised to find out that he had been bragging to some family members that his mommy was going to make him a Green Arrow suit. I couldn’t have been happier.
He wanted to go as Batman for Halloween so we made that happen. I decided to dress up also. Why, you ask? Because, it was a chance to dress up and trick or treat with my baby, who is no longer a baby. I wanted to share my love of costuming and cosplay with my son just as my mom had shared her love of creativity with me. I went as Batwoman. I was short on cash at the time but I scowered and scrimped for some cheap supplies to make a costume for myself. I found little man a pre-assembled Batman costume and he loved it. He watched me as I put my costume together over the few days I had before Halloween. This was a last-minute decision so I was kinda rushed. He asked questions about what I was doing and how I was making my costume. He was interested and kinda perplexed at times. He wanted to help so I gave him some small tasks that didn’t involve scissors or hot glue. That was a great night. His first night of trick or treating. He bounded through the Trail of Treats like a tiny mad man. I was so proud to see him enjoy himself. To see his eyes widen with excitement when he saw other people dressed up was priceless.
For this year’s celebration Daddy and I decided that we would improve upon my Batwoman costume and put together a Question costume for him. With little man’s curiosity being heightened he wanted to know what we were doing every second. He wanted to help again so I gave him some side projects. After we finished Daddy’s Question mask he had to try it on for size because he is a ham and loves having his picture taken.
I saw some great pictures today posted by Wizard World Philadelphia of the Kid’s Costume Contest. Here are a few. They are adorable and collective awwww’s can begin now……..
Check out more from the Wizard World Philadelphia Facebook Page — Kids Dress Up As the Darndest Things https://www.facebook.com/philadelphiacomiccon?rf=128757923927906
Don’t get me wrong, we aren’t just passing on our geeky nature through comic books and super heroes. We are sharing our favorite books, cartoon shows and toys with him too. He loves being read to. So I decided I would try some Shel Silverstien books. His favorite was the Missing Piece. He loves that book. He loves for it to be read to him over and over. He also liked Go, Dog Go, a Dr. Seuss book before Dr. Seuss was Dr. Seuss, and there is a book that was mine from when I was little called “The Big Word Book” by Richard Scarry. The spine is duct taped and everyone in the family has drawn in it including my mom and grandmother. He loves that old book. There are a few things that he hasn’t really latched onto yet like The Velveteen Rabbit which was one of my favorite books as a kid, but he is his own person and he likes what he likes. Maybe, one day, I can talk him into taking it for a spin.
My mom and grandmother had kept some of my old toys too over the years. When he would go to mom’s before she passed away he would play with them. Mostly Fisher Price toys like the mooing cow, the circus train and the Sesame Street House and every little person that went with it. He loves that old train and Sesame Street house. I think, even more than the Batman Batcave we got him for Christmas. Green Lantern has taken a few plunges off of Mr. Hooper’s rooftop. It fills my heart with joy to know that my family thought enough of me to keep these things so that my kids could enjoy them.
We have passed on a very geeky habit kinda by accident. Video games. Something that I didn’t even think he would be interested in until he got older. One night I sat down with him when he was 2 and showed him Batman Lego 2 on Xbox plus a couple of other kid friendly trial games. After that, there was no turning back. I had created a tiny gaming monster. He has played Batman Lego 2 by himself for over a year now, and I do mean over and over and over. The disc is nearly worn out. He then became interested in my Nintendo DS so we caved and bought him a Team Umizoomi numbers game and, of course, a Power Rangers game. After that was Lego Lord of the Rings and before all of that frenzy he figured out how to use the phone and can now play games on it whenever he wants because he is some kind of tiny tech genius. Kids these days (said the crotchety old lady). My son, however, is a Digital Native, while my husband and I are Digital Immigrants. Hard to believe but he was born into the brave new world of great technologies. At times, we have to try and keep up.
We have also introduced him to our favorite cartoons from when we were kids. Thundercats, Speed Racer, Justice League, GI Joe, Bugs Bunny and Transformers. He’s not a Bugs Bunny fan, much to my disbelief and he could pretty much take or leave everything but Speed Racer and the Justice League. He’s a Disney kid and enjoys Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Justin Time and Batman: The Brave and The Bold and, of course, Spongebob Squarepants; but I like Spongebob so you get no argument from me there. Just goes to show you that not everything you loved as a kid is going to be the same thing he enjoys when he’s a kid. They are their own little people but it doesn’t hurt to show them all the great things that make up life past and present.
I also want to pass on my nerdy love of the outdoors and nature. I want him to play in the dirt and catch worms. Splash in puddles, study dinosaurs and the stars and planets. I want him to find beauty and mystery in everything around him. At 3 years old every other word is why, how or what. He is brimming with raw curiosity and creativity. I love to see him play pretend with his Batman and Robin AND go outside and dig a hole in the dirt, help in the garden or enjoy playing a little kickball. I love to see him sit down and draw and paint. 
The moral of this story is pass on your geeky, nerdy interests to your kids whatever they may be. Music, Art, Nature, Comics, Games or Cartoons. They will always remember what we shared with them and they can carry it out into their world to shape it into whatever way they wish. Let them wear the Batman mask to the grocery, let them fight the Rebel Forces with a stick that has suddenly become a light saber, let them fly over the neighborhood with a towel around their shoulders that has suddenly become a cape and helps them catch the bad guy and make the world a safer place.
I hope the Metropolis Superman Celebration is something that becomes a family tradition for us. Even when he grows up and has a family of his own I hope that he can bring my costumed grandkids to get their picture taken in front of the giant Superman statute in Superman Square. Some things kids will carry with them always. I hope he shares his grandmother’s passions and his mommy and daddy’s passions forward to his kids. From then on, generation to generation.
To all our \S/uperfriends arriving in Metropolis, Illinois, we will see you soon to celebrate Superman and Truth, Justice and the American Way!!!
TWO NERDS AND A BABY 