I might be the only one who finds this funny/sad.
I was trying to retrieve my mother’s email, but all the passwords she normally uses were not working. I click the Forgot Password? link and am faced with this question:
Where did you meet your spouse?
Let me tell you why this is sad: my parents split in 1972, divorced in 1981. It wasn’t amicable. Of all the optional security questions, my mother chose that one, a clear indication to me that she never got over the split. So sad to be carrying that your whole life.
Here’s why it’s funny: I had to call my dad when I ran out of feasible answers. The man has never owned a computer, nor has he ever sent an email and he can’t quite comprehend why I need this information. Still, he told me where they met (awww) and under what circumstances (a total ewww involving an accidentally exposed body part a la Janet Jackson at Superbowl 2004). I tried spelling variations, switching words, upper and lower case – all to no avail. And then I finally cracked her code.
One of my hidden talents is deciphering what no one else can. I once held a hand written letter from my great-grandfather in my hands that no one else could read. I was able to make sense of about half of the scraggly words, but the letter was written in Yiddish and I wasn’t completely fluent. That letter contained his instructions for his funeral.
And just last night, I got home to an agitated 15 year old. He had accidentally scratched off the last two digits on a gift card and had spent more than an hour and a half trying to figure it out. By the time I got to him, he was slamming his door in frustration.
“Let me see,” I said softly, holding my hand out for the card.
“Forget it,” he shrugged. “The money is lost.”
“Maybe,” I acknowledged. “You’ve got nothing to lose.”
I walked over to his desk, turned on his lamp so my 50-year-old eyes could see better and said, “Try…8M.”
“What the…?” he stuttered, watching his gaming account fill with money again.
I smiled and walked away.
He followed me. “Wait…how…That doesn’t even look like an M. How did you do that?”
I shrugged.
“That’s my superpower.”
Mom cred uplevelled.
So tell me, what’s your hidden superpower?