Batman, Superman, Captain America, and many other names cross your mind when thinking about who your favorite superhero may be; however when I'm asked this question I don't have to think about which man with this ridiculous powers I like more, I instantly think of my true super hero, a man I've been blessed to call Dad. Now, he didn't have some crazy name related to a flying animal, no “super” in his name, and as patriotic as he is his name didn't quite have America in it. I call my hero Dad and to others he's known as Tom.

Many people can agree that their fathers were their heroes growing up, but how often do you really take into consideration all that they do? I know whenever I was little I didn't realize how uncommon it was for a man to play with a baby doll and take his daughter and said doll for walks around town. All too often my father did what would be known as “motherly roles” in order to not only make me feel as if I had both roles, but mostly just to make me happy. My happiness as a child, and now, was something I can tell my father cares about tremendously. To take his role one step farther, this hero of mine once took on leading a Girl Scout Troop of around twenty little girls just so I would have a local troop to be on and so I could make a close knit group of friends. I can recall my dad coming up with activities for us to do at our next meeting, outings he took us on to practice minor survival techniques, and even attending our girly sleepovers.

I also knew that my dad was going above and beyond for me, but I didn't truly understand exactly how “beyond” that was. This man who had grown up with three brothers and just one sister probably didn't know what he'd be getting into while raising a little girl, but the thought of doing it didn't discourage him. My father researched anything a little girl would eventually need to know. Stapling papers together and hanging them my way so I could learn exactly what “the time of the month” was and establish my disliking for Mother Nature seemed awkward to me at the time, but a few years later I greatly appreciated it researching ways. It didn't matter what the subject was, I always knew I could talk to my dad about it. If he didn't have an answer on his own, we'd sit together and look it up, then I'd wait for my new homemade book of information to be made by my father.

Now I'm almost 19, living on my own, and going to college and I still find myself having to call my dad when I'm unsure of something or when I simply need pointed in the right direction. The measures my dad went to don't end at simply being a Girl Scout leader, or looking up things about the female menstruation process, but they go to bigger things such as encouraging me to be all that I can and to follow my heart. Thanks to my hero, Tom Cofer, I now believe that I can do anything I set my mind to. I also strongly believe in using Google when I have a question about something if my hero is just a little busy.

Thanks for being all that you could be for me, Dad.