Real Life Super Heros

The Dream


The Reality


Tom once commented that my true talent is the ability to calm ailing children and animals, sitting quietly with them for hours when necessary. I don’t want to brag or anything, but he does have a point.

When I was a little girl, I used to pretend to be a super hero and imagined what it would be like if I could fly, had x-ray vision or could make myself invisible. It didn’t take me long to figure out that my future didn’t include a stint as Wonder Woman.

Tom’s observation made me think about real life - if we are always looking for thunder bolts and lightning - we risk missing the true gifts that life often gives us.

Many of my friends also have hidden gifts. For example:

Suzanne – has the uncanny ability to spot wildlife from miles away, without the use of binoculars.
Carla – who can name the children of any living celebrity. I’m not kidding, you can’t stump her.
RL – who has really fast drying hair. His wife and daughters are quite envious of this skill and swear it’s dry before he even leaves the shower.
Janice – who can do anything with a stalk of rhubarb, including; bake a cobbler, dye a dress, grind it into a paste and hang wallpaper
Maggie – who can make herself as unobtrusive as a stealth bomber when it comes to sneaking food. This week alone we caught her eating half of a chicken taco and most of Tom’s breakfast smoothie.