Am I a Braggart?

So yesterday I was tagged on Facebook to write 25 random things about myself. The reaction to this light-hearted, unthought-out revealing of my deepest secrets has revealed a heretofore well hidden fact about myself. I am a proud braggart.

I had no idea how arrogant I was until my loving husband pointed it out to me. I wrote: 1. "I love to read and am a fast bookworm who can easily read a book in a few hours when camping. It is hard to take enough books to get me through a week long camping trip at the Metolius. Sitting with my feet up with a view of the Metolius on a warm summer day and a good book in hand is paradise to me." Apparently Will translated this to, "I am a really fast reader. I can read faster than everyone else. I am really proud that I am the fastest reader in the world and you're not.Nya, nya, nya, nya, na."

I truly did not in tend to brag. There's nothing special about reading fast. If I wanted to brag about any of my amazing talents, I would have mentioned the really good ones, like, hmm, let's see, I would have mentioned, oh, I know! I would have made sure to casually let it slip that I can type 93 words a minute! I am very proud of that enviable talent. But there I go again, bragging about how cool I am. I must break this bad habit!

It's interesting how one person's perception of something can be so different than what is intended. For example, tonight at dinner Nick told us that his name was mentioned twice on the morning announcements at West Albany High School today. According to him, the announcement went something like this, "The following FBLA members qualified for the State Competition by placing at District....Nick McAnulty took first place in Spreadsheet Applications...other students blah blah blah...Nick McAnulty placed in Computer Apps...Please congratulate these students for being the biggest geeks in the school and be sure to give them a big ole wedgie any chance you get." For some reason, he just didn't appreciate his name being announced to the whole school twice under these circumstances. (Although he personally has no fear of any of his classmates attempting to give him a wedgie.)

I could tell you about several FBLA awards that I myself won in high school, but I must control myself. Let me just say that being really really fast in Shorthand did not enhance my popularity then or now. Then again, my FBLA accomplishments were never announced to the entire school. Had this occurred, I assure you it would have ranked among my proudest high school moments.

So if any of you read number 1 in the 25 random things about myself and turned up your nose in disgust at my conceit, I humbly beg your forgiveness. Obviously I need to work much harder at being humble. Maybe you can understand now why it's so difficult for me, with all these exceptional abilities I have been blessed with. But in spite of all that, I resolve to start being humble tomorrow.