VF Questionnaire

A friend recently told me that she and her husband answered the questions on the back page of Vanity Fair as part of their weekly date, and then, a few days later, I picked up the September Vanity Fair so I could read the profile Maureen Orth wrote on Carla Bruni.  When I flipped to the back page, I came across that questionnaire and thought, why the heck not?  Except for it’s hard as heck to answer these questions.  Here are some of my responses.  To make this a little less paralyzing, I am giving myself 30 seconds to come up with my answers.  Otherwise, I’ll wallow in trying to make each answer perfect and there will never be a blog post.  I hope you’ll share some of your answers to these great questions, too.   

What is your greatest extravagance?  Regular massages.  I don’t color my hair, get my nails done, or shop much.  But sitting on one’s bottom all day, typing, really– surprise– does a number on the body.  Even my runs agitate my hips so a regular visit to a massage therapist helps a sister out. 

On what occasion do you lie?  I am an awful liar– terribly transparent.  So I just don’t even bother to lie (ask my mom; when she asked me if my dad would keep his hair during chemotherapy.  I gently told her no.  My sister called me later and said, “You couldn’t lie?”  She, of all people, knows that I can’t.).   

What is the quality you most like in a woman?  Self-awareness.   

Which word(s) or phrase(s) do you overuse?  Self-awareness.    

When and where were you happiest?  I have a fairly even disposition.  I don’t have incredible lows, but that also means that I don’t have incredible highs.  Mostly, I am content.  Even when times are tough, I can manage smiles, jokes, and laughter in between a tear or twenty. 

What is your most marked characteristic?  My curiosity. I am overflowing with questions.  

What is it that you most dislike?  Criticism and judgment; an unwillingness to see things outside of one’s own worldview. 

What is your greatest regret?  I am incredibly careful– less now than when I was younger so the regrets I do have are clothed in the things I didn’t do rather than the things I did.  One of my best friends in high school, Erich (in the picture above), once told me that he thought this would be the case.  He was right.  But that’s okay and so am I. 

What is your motto?  Love people, not things.