Day 6: Picture

6 - What's a picture of yourself that not many people have seen?

Oh man, this one was a lot of work! The monitor of my regular computer is broken right now, and I'm posting from my laptop. I'm also pre-writing these and scheduling them to go up on each day of the challenge because I'm going camping this weekend (yay!) and won't be near a computer.

So. Trying to find a rare photo of myself without being able to check my computer to see what's on there? Not very easy.

Then I remembered I had a photobucket account from years ago. And I found an old picture of myself from back when we got our first digital camera! It was all big and clunky and had hardly any memory, but I thought it was awesome and was praticing with it to learn how to use it. So of course I took a picture of myself in the bathroom mirror. It was taken at the first house the Mr. and I lived in all by ourselves (we were roomates in a big house when we started dating) which was also the house where he proposed to me. Awww.

Here I am at age 22 or 23, I think. And yes, that's a tattoo on my arm. I have one on each.

And on my day off, I talk about ... me!

I've got several friends right now who are online dating, and one who just married a man she met that way. One of these friends is very, very smart and keeps an interesting blog about her process of going from newly-divorced to dating at: Struck by Lightning 2.0. Her recent post about statistics reminded me that she'd previously linked to a really interesting site where you can participate in positive psychology research by taking some inventory questionnaires about your own happiness: Authentic Happiness Tests.

I generally score pretty high on happiness, which probably won't surprise those of you that know me or read this blog regularly. Even though there are some really difficult aspects of my life, on a day-to-day basis I'm very happy. I love Mr. Polly tremendously and have a great time with him, I feel that I'm doing the sort of work I'm meant to do and that I'm taking steps toward being where I want to be (in nursing school), I love the town I live in, and have good friendships. I do have some troubled family relationships at time, worry about Mr. Polly's disease, and am constantly frustrated by our neverending medical debt. But overall I feel that most of that is something we can overcome.

But my positive psychology scores aren't really the stuff I'd put on a dating profile, or anything that I lead with when I meet new people. I just took a Briggs-Myers test again and scored as an ISFJ (Introverted Sensing Feeling Judging) type. Apparently I'm a Guardian Protector type. I don't know if my reserve is actually very obvious to others, but I feel it. I've been at my current facility for 6 months and, although I like a lot of my coworkers, I only have the phone number of one of them, and he's the only one I've considered socializing with outside of work so far. I've gently turned down other invitations because I just don't know if it's worth it to me since nursing homes are often such little drama hotbeds. So I wait a long time to see if I hear someone gossiping or being a jerk before I decide if I want to hang out with them. That's pretty reserved, I know, and sometimes I wish I were less so. But I'm cautious that way.

One of my friends that's online dating has her type on her profile (INFP) so maybe that's a decent way to give someone a shorthand of who you are. I'm partly thinking about this because down the road I foresee some "I want to be a nurse because" essays in my future for scholarships. And no one wants to read "because I want to help people" over and over again. So I could say "because I 'have an extraordinary sense of loyalty and responsibility in [my] makeup, and seem fulfilled in the degree [I] can shield others from the dirt and dangers of the world' but also because I find it funny when old ladies come up and try to hand me a handful of poop and I can look at a stage 4 tunneling wound (and smell it) without vomiting. Give me some money for education!"

That'll go over well, don't you think?

Or "Our premarital counselor told me that even though I seem sweet as can be, I'm secretly made of cast iron."

On second thought, it's a good thing I have a long time to work on these pitches, and it's a really good thing I'm not trying to find a husband online. Although, wealthy gentlemen of the world, if you are reading this right now and thinking "I wish I could marry Polly and pay her way through school then let her divorce me and remarry her own Mister" send me a comment and we'll talk. This applies to well-to-do ladies living in states where gay marriage is legal as well, of course.




Maybe this blog is the best scholarship app/personal ad ever in life. Ha.

Day 01: Relationship.

I'm married, and very happily so. I met my husband a long time ago, way back when I was 19. We married when I was 23, which I was pretty surprised about, having never planned on getting married until I began dating him.

We laugh a lot. When we go to bed at the same time, we stay up too late talking and playing stupid games we make up on the spot, like "Holla Whatcha Call Me" (pretty self-explanatory) and other weird stuff, like the time I decided to tell him "The Scariest Story Ever Told" in a bad Russian accent (it was about a character named Black the Ukranian who was covered in fur like a monkey from hell). I wonder if our neighbors can hear us, and if they wish we'd just go to sleep for God's sake.

I still think my husband is very handsome. And he's still very tall. Even when we're old and he shrinks, he'll still be very tall. When you start out at 6'4" you can spare a little spinal compression.

Having been so young when I started dating him, we've really grown up together. Learned how to be responsible adults that show up for work on time and pay our bills on time. I've learned how to cook, though not 'till we'd already been married a while. But I'm good at it now! We've traveled together a little bit, but not that far away. When I was a nanny, the family I worked for took us both with them on their vacation to Whistler, BC, which was really fun. They have special trash cans there that are too confusing for bears to get into. Also, I taught my husband how to ride a bike.

When I was younger and my single female friends would ask me how to pick a guy, my basic advice was "Look around at everyone you know, and pick the guy that you think is too nice and funny and cute for you. Then ask him out. Or maneuver him into asking you out. Then try really hard to be good enough for him, and expect him to do the same for you. Then you'll be happy."

It worked for me!

Happy 9th anniversary this fall, Mr. Polly!




PS we both just figured out what we wanted to be when we grew up, like, a year ago. So don't stress about that either, people.