Full Body Armor Required

Planet Vernal is an oilfield planet. Pretty much 100% of the people who live here either work in the oilfield, work for an oilfield company or know someone who does. The work is hard, most of the time, the hours are long and the money is really good.

Superman works on a drilling rig. He is part of a 5 man crew that drills a "surface hole". They drill a few thousand feet into mud and rock and when they reach a certain depth they move to a new location and a larger rig sets up and takes over where they left off. Aside from the long hours, the muddy dirt roads, the poisonous gas, the rattlesnakes, the snapping chains, the heavy pipe and machinery and the breaking down equipment, it's a pretty safe job.

Every morning (usually about 4am) I get out of bed, fix Superman's breakfast, enjoy a cup of coffee with him and then send him off to face his 16 hour day. This is something I HAVE TO DO. Not because he makes me but because I can't go back to sleep unless I know I've kissed him goodbye, told him to be safe and said "I love you." It's my prayer of protection for him. My ritual of the heart.

It used to be really hard to let him go but after years of sending him off in the same way, it's gotten to be routine. It's what we do everyday. And even though it's easier than it used to be, I still feel anxious when he goes. I still can't wait for him to come home so I can kiss him again and say a prayer of thanks that he is home safe and sound.

Thankfully, most days they just drill. This means that they spend the majority of their day cleaning and maintaining the rig while they send pipe into the hole. When the pipe gets to a certain point they connect another pipe and go back to what they were doing until it's time to make another connection. Occasionally this leaves them time to pursue other activities such as...

Yes, this is the inside of a port-a-potty. Just in case you've never seen one. Fascinating isn't it?

He's not sleeping. He's daydreaming...about me.

These are the good days. When Superman sends me a text message saying "we're just drilling today". As long as he doesn't step on a rattlesnake while eating cheetos, on his way to the Port a Potty then he will probably be just fine.

But sometimes bad things happen even on drilling days. This gigantic hole in the ground is from an explosion. This is what happens when the gas under the earth builds up in the hole and can't get out any other way. When this happened the explosion actually picked up the rig and moved it, sending mud, rock, pipe and debris flying through the air. Thank God no one got hurt. But it's days like this that remind me that Superman's days are NEVER routine. To always be aware that even on the most mundane of days, my Superman is always in danger. THAT is why I haul my butt out of bed at 4AM to fix his breakfast and kiss him goodbye.

Superman is always coming home with bruises from one mishap or another and since he is a big guy and he is really strong it seems like he is always in the most dangerous place, doing the most dangerous thing at any given time. I guess that is what super heroes do but I HATE IT! Believe me, I am NO LOIS LANE. Superman can retire at any time. Someone else can fight the good fight and he can come home and just let his girls give him a pedicure. And as appealing as that may be to him, he insists that slaying the car payment, keeping us from freezing to death during the 20 below Vernal winters and single handedly holding up the roof over our heads is more important.

Then...yesterday a chain snapped. This caused a large metal chain tong to swing around and hit Superman in the thigh. If he had not been my "man of steel" it would have snapped his leg. As it was, the hit was so hard and the pain of the blow so severe that it knocked him unconscious.

He says that he was dreaming he was on the beach surrounded by beautiful bikini clad women serving him Pina Coladas and awoke to find the entire motley drill crew surrounding him instead. Talk about a rude awakening.

He's OK. I don't know how but he is. He limped home and he even limped to work the next day but it SCARED me and it SCARED his crew. When I think about what COULD have happened. If the Tongs had been a bit higher or had hit him any harder...it's just unthinkable. But for Superman...and the rest of the crew, who are his friends, who have families of their own, it is just another day. It's just their job. Too often I hear about some horrible accident happening to someone out there and my first thought is always "Thank God it wasn't his rig" and then I wonder about the guys wife and kids.

So THANK YOU SUPERMAN for going out there and slaying the oilfield dragon for us everyday. Someday soon (please God, let it be sooner than later) we can retire to a beach somewhere and you can be served real Pina Coladas by real bikini clad women. You can just relax and SLEEP LATE every morning and I will still kiss you and fix you breakfast. The oilfield dragon will be dead at last (at least in our world) and you can just sit back and enjoy the rewards.