Same As I Ever Was

A few weeks ago, a fellow blogger asked me, via email, "Jill, what are you like?" I drafted a response or two, but the words didn't really say what I wanted them to.

Then today, I was thinking about one of my cousins, Jenna, a kindergartener. (Technically, we are first cousins once removed because her father and my mother are first cousins, though my parents are actually her father's godparents because her father is actually much closer to my age than my parents'. Just go with it, okay? Because, frankly, that's one of the easier relationships to understand in my family, and if you're going to hang out at JillWrites through the holiday season, which I truly hope you do, it's going to get a bit more complex. Or, I could just refer to nearly every person I speak of as "my cousin" and perplex you with vagueness.)

Anyway, back to Jenna. I was thinking about her because I'm fascinated with how people's personalities develop. You see, with Jenna, all signs point to "heartbreaker." And every time she tosses her shiny auburn ponytail and bats her frilly eyelashes at a man once, twice, five times, ten times her age, I like to watch her dad's face as it flits back and forth between unconditional love and sheer terror of what the next fifteen years are going to bring.

(To all you parents out there who want to curse my sadism: don't worry, my mother does it weekly. "You laugh," she warns, "but you're going to get one just like yourself. May you get one just like you." So don't worry, folks. Connie's got it covered.)

Thinking about Jenna got me wondering. Could a trip back to Jill:The Early Years help me draft my answer to the magic question?

I like books.

And am often very introspective.


But I also like fashion.
Any catwalk will do.

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