My momma has an awesome superpower that most people would love to have. She has the quickest and funniest retorts of anybody I know.
A good example of this happened a few years ago when Mom and I went to a restaurant with some friends. She had ordered coleslaw, which is one of her favorite side dishes. They served it to her in a small white bowl with a rounded scoop of it sitting on top of a leaf of lettuce. Simple elegance.
The table was quiet as we all dug into our food. That was until we heard my momma’s voice: “Well, lookie here!” I remember turning to see her smiling and pointing to the little pretty serving of coleslaw.
“Isn’t he the perfect little inch worm?”
Yep, you read that right. A little green inchworm was crawling as fast as he could along the edge of the white bowl. I have to admit, momma was right. That little guy was the prettiest shade of fluorescent mint green I had ever seen. Plus, he was plump and seemed to be rather juicy. It didn’t look as though he had missed any meals.
People sitting around us turned to look. Then whispers spread out across the room from us like the concentric waves from dropping a pebble into a puddle or pond.
“That lady has a worm on her bowl.”
“Check your plate.”
“Don’t eat the coleslaw.”
My mom called the waiter over and pointed to her little green guest again. “Are you going to charge me extra for this little guy?” Of course, we all burst out laughing. The waiter stood there for a few seconds with his mouth gaped open. When he finally spoke, he asked, “Where did that come from?”
That poor guy had no idea who he was dealing with.
Immediately my mom replied, “I brought him from home. He’s my comfort animal. He’s in the HABITAT program. Humans Animals Bonding in Tennessee. I tried to tie his HABITAT scarf on him, but it kept falling off.”
“A merry heart doeth good like medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.” Proverbs 17:22 (KJV)
I totally believe my momma’s superpower comes from her attitude. She tries to look at things with humor and that relaxes her mind; freeing it up. And that allows for her way with words. When you are stressed and upset, it’s hard to think or even function. Think of stress as kryptonite that drains you so much that you can’t access your own superpower. And yes, we all have them.
They brought my mother another bowl of coleslaw. After she took a couple of bites, I asked, “Mom, aren’t you afraid of finding another inchworm?”
“Nope. I think the inchworm came from the lettuce because they didn’t wash it enough. They won’t let that happen again.” She took a couple of more bites before she stopped eating. Then she laid her fork down. “You know, there could’ve been another inch worm down in the coleslaw and I could’ve eaten it and not known.”
This time it was my turn to use the superpower. I replied, “Maybe that’s why the inch worm was crawling so fast. It was trying to get away so you wouldn’t eat it too.”