How do you see yourself?

Take a look sometime at the photos Match members post and you wonder what message they're trying to convey through their photos.

justafarmboy and I spoke of this once. He had about 16 photos on his profile. Several were pottery-related; one was him sitting with the elderly mother of a dear friend; two were with his motorcycle; two were from a visit to Italy with his daughter several years ago; one was of his new "office" - the Big Yellow Lemon; and one was just a casual up-close photo so you could see his face clearly. He said he was trying to convey that there were many aspects to his life and he could get along with all sorts of people.

I'm astonished to see how many men have photos of their motorcycles or fancy cars or classic vehicles. But maybe that's who they are@ndash;how they see themselves. On profiles past I had posted a photo of myself with my two beloved grands. I wanted to establish clearly that these two children are very, very important to my life and any man who thought he'd like to get involved with me had to understand that a long term relationship with me would include a long term relationship with les bebes. Then some j.a. wrote me that guys weren't looking for a grandma and I wasn't looking for a babysitter so I should remove those photos if I wanted any action on my profile. Oh, read my finger. On the current profile, I had only a couple of photos posted for a long time, and then recently included a lovely one of les bebes, their parents and me that I used for my Christmas card last year. Then added one of the three of us laughing our heads off, as that photo brings me joy each time I view it.

Maybe that's why people post photos of their pets. If you are interested in me, you'd better like cats/dogs/fish/whatever.

Several Match friends and I have discussed the women whose profiles specify they're only looking for men whose income is in excess of $100,000. Almost to a woman, the focus of their photos is their décolleté. Hmmm, are they selling it?

Mr. Match told me of one woman who posted many photos of her expensive Foothills home, implying any man interested in her had better be interested in supporting her and her lavish lifestyle.

<Soapbox on> Trust me, people, I've had the man with money. It ain't all it's cracked up to be. I'd rather have a man with only a comfortable bank balance who treated me with respect, kindness, tenderness and love, than a selfish, lazy, disrespectful slob who was worth $50M. <Soapbox off>

Thank God the Match censors have to approve photos before they're viewable. Can you imagine what would be out there if they didn't?!