Year 5, Day 340

When I woke up on Saturday, Miles had a simple request for me, one he requested by leaning in close and saying, “Daddy, I want you to build me a suit.”

“What sort of suit?” I asked. “Like a business suit?”

“No,” he said. “Look.” He then pressed his thumb into the side of his hand, as though pressing a button.

In anticipation of the third installment of this particular franchise, our last couple family movie nights have been viewings of Ant-Man and its sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp. Miles loves these movies. So much so, in fact, that he has now asked me to build him a FUNCTIONAL Ant-Man costume.*

A simple request, obviously, and one that reminded me of a similar instance from my own childhood. There was a day, back at the townhouse we lived in for most of the first seven years of my life, where I was running around outside, waving my He-Man sword around. This was a glow-in-the-dark sword, but it didn’t really do that anymore because, so concerned was I with authenticity, I had asked my dad to spray paint it sliver.

It wasn’t enough. I mean, it was good, but He-Man’s sword still did something mine didn’t. Specifically, I wanted a sword that could drastically alter my wardrobe in the way that Prince Adam’s did when he summoned the power of Grayskull. I wasn’t sure exactly how this could be achieved, but I did recognize that, while my own sword was very similar to He-Man’s, it did lack something that his sister’s, She-Ra, did. An embedded power jewel.

I again turned to the one person whose skills could certainly accommodate my lofty ambitions. “Dad?” I asked. “Could you put a jewel in my sword that will change me to He-Man?”

His response was exactly what you might expect. “You know? I might be able to do that…”To the best of my recollection, I never followed up on the progress of this particular endeavor.

I expected something similar with Miles and his Ant-Man costume. Unfortunately I have to report that at this time he has asked me about it another five times.

“Well, buddy,” I said after the fourth request, “you need to understand that I don’t have all the supplies to make an Ant-Man suit.”

Stupid Brian. “Well you can go to the store to get them,” Miles reasoned.

I’m not sure he’s letting this go anytime soon.

_{* He also asked me to build Jaclyn an operational Wasp costume. When I asked if I get a costume, he said, “No, because you’re the guy with the beard.” I am fine with being Michael Douglas.}