The Organ of Adhesiveness

"You must have become in some degree attached to the house, - you, who have an eye for natural beauties, and a good deal of the organ of Adhesiveness?"

- Mr. Rochester to Jane Eyre

"What would you say is your greatest strength?" 

I remember getting that question about once a week near the end of college. Interview after interview, no one ever seemed to come up with another way of asking that or its tricky cousin: "What would you say is your greatest weakness?" ("Weakness? Well, sometimes I work TOO hard. I just don't know when to stop. I dedicate myself to a project and don't stop until it's done, sometimes at the expense of a good meal or a hot date. It's a real weakness." Did anyone NOT answer that way?)

My standard answer to the strength question was usually: "Well, sir, I am extremely loyal." I don't know how I proved it - I hadn't held a job for more than a summer at a time (and that was only once), didn't have any long time commitments to any organizations or leadership positions I'd held for longer than a semester...I guess I just hoped they'd believe me. It seemed not too braggy, and sort of endearing and I knew it to be true, so they just needed to trust me.

I realize now this may be why my mailbox wasn't overflowing with job offers. Should've gone with something like "proven results" or "experience."

But a little life experience has given me a chance to prove myself. Many of my closest friends have been my closest friends for 10 years or more. In fact, my best friend and I are celebrating our 31st anniversary this year. For 15 years, I have cheered for only one college team and if you cut me, I just might bleed orange and blue. This is my 11th year in BSF. I've served the same ministry in some capacity or another for more than 7 years. I've been married for 11 years, and have had kids now for 8 years. Stop me if you can't handle any more of my awesomeness.

Sometimes, loyalty hurts. I've had it backfire over the years. But today, loyalty kicked in and won me a victory.

I was trying to sign in to an online service and, as usual, couldn't remember my password. Apparently, I am not loyal to passwords. So I began the procedure of resetting the password and was startled to see that my security question - set a loyal 10 years ago - was:

Who is your ALL-TIME favorite entertainer?

Oh, sheesh. What kind of mood was I in when when I set the answer? Getting it wrong would lock me out of the system and require me to do battle with the phonebots. Did I really need online banking anyway?

I had to answer two questions correctly, and I knew I had the answer to the next one, because mom's maiden name hadn't varied in the last 10 years. So I had to give it a shot...and I NAILED it.


ALL-TIME was kind of a giveaway, because in my terms, ALL-TIME means from the time I was in elementary school and able to make these kinds of important decisions by myself. And ALL-TIME means now, to this day. Mark a 'W' for loyalty, or, in the words of Mr. Rochester - for the organ of Adhesiveness!

Do you have an all-time favorite entertainer? Would you get your security question right if you'd answered 10 years ago?