What’s Your Superpower?

I’m sitting in a condo at Hilton Head Island, enjoying the rainstorm. I keep hearing the beep-beep notification of an alarm or battery going dead. I try and pinpoint its location to no avail. The maintenance guy sat on a counter chatting with the front desk operator. I explained that I have a Superpower which is great ears, and I keep hearing a beep. The maintenance guy asked what room I was in. When I told him, he said, “Aha, the door alarm.” He followed me down the hallway, but his key, a real key, not a pass card would not fit in the door marked, “Employees Only.” He headed back to the reception area to find a housekeeper who he said had the proper key.

Upon his return he shook his head and told me the door he wanted was outside, not the one he’d been trying. He asked if I still heard it because he could not. I said I did. He went outside. He returned and asked me to follow him. The rain had moved on to a faint shower, and I barely got wet when I took his steps behind my condo, which was on the corner. Inside a two-story tall eight-by-ten room was a bank of computer screens high on the wall. And the beep-beep got louder.

He pointed at the screens. “Is this what you’re hearing?”

“Yes.” We shared a high-five.

He looked up at the screens and said, “Now, to remember how to fix this.”

I waved to him before I returned to my room. Twenty minutes later, a knock came at the door.

“Maintenance.”

I opened the door and greeted him.
“Can you hear it now?”

“No.” I said. “Great job. And thank you for listening to me.”“Thank you for having great hearing before I left for the day.”

What’s your superpower?

My boss likes to as this question of others. It’s a great conversation starter and makes one think about their assets, their strengths, their abilities in a positive manner.
Besides hearing, I’m also good at knowing someone needs something before they need it. I’ll hand someone a writing instrument and a pad of paper before they think they want to take down a note. I’ll have a water bottle at the ready before speaker’s voice begins to falter and they rea

lize they need a drink.

What’s your superpower?

Lean into it today. Realize your worth. Enjoy you being you. We all have something to give to the world.

 

Robin is currently editing “Cathy’s Corner,” a contemporary romance with a pinch of magic realism that she is determined to get published before her 60th birthday this November. In the meantime, enjoy one of her short stories that can be found in “Love in the Lowcountry Winter Holiday Volumes I & II.”