I personally have always found the term ‘pretty’, when applied to me, to be rather insulting. As in, “just pretty??!?”. Ok, so I have a healthy level of self-confidence, bordering on being downright vain. I swear to you it’s not my fault – it’s genetic. I come from a long line of terribly vain people, a whole family of people who will swear up and down that we are made solely from “beautiful genes”.

A wonderful example of this was the time I was walking with my uncle into a mall. Looking at his muscular calves, I happened to notice they were smooth as a babies bottom. Being about 9 years old at the time, my inquisitive nature was in full bloom. “Uncle?”, I asked, at the top of my lungs, I might add, “how come you shave your legs?”. Now, being part of my conceited family, there was no hushing, or lowered tones. Nope. Instead, he answered just as loudly, “You see these sexy, muscular calves? They are irresistible…and when I want the women to come and fawn around me, all I have to do is this!”, and he stuck his calf out, and pointed with both hands…in the middle of the parking lot, clearly disrupting traffic.

So, since that isn’t even a rare example of one of my family members, or a vanity situation, it’s no wonder I subconsciously deem myself to be above simply “pretty”. Like how, whenever someone tells my mom that her daughter is beautiful, she says (more…)