For the Love of the Less Attractive

So everyone has their personal tastes. I get that.
Some women are into guys with body hair-- Burt Reynolds, for example, was very popular in the 70s. Some ladies like the smooth talkers with the Benjamins (because, let's be honest-- Sean Coombs, aka Puff Daddy/Puffy/P. Diddy/Diddy or whoever he is these days isn't really what you'd call good looking with his buck teeth and buggy eyes, right?). Sir Mix-a-Lot liked Big Butts and he could not lie about it, and you know what? To each their own.
In my life, I tend to get attached to homely or helpless things.
A really good example of this is Desmond:

Here he is with my little brother Ben. Ben, of course, is the one on the left. Ben is handsome, and a great brother, and I love him. But I mostly loved Desmond the Puppet because who else would? I am, however, happy to say that the Raymond Sego family actually all has learned to love Desi's unique attributes. My niece kisses him. Even my brother-in-law is a fan. But we all like Desmond, despite his physical appearance.
Likewise, there's my poor hen Bertha. You'd think Bertha was living the good life-- plenty of grain, a handsome boyfriend (Esteban) all to herself, room to roam, a coop for protection, etc. But Bertha has some stress in her life, because every time I see her, she's missing even more feathers.

Plus also, she's got some really nasty skin. At first I thought she was just molting and that we'd be seeing some downy feathers come in any time. But this has been going on for months, and frankly, she looks revolting. But that doesn't make me shun her. Indeed, it makes me love her more. Thankfully, Esteban appears blinded by her personality or her pheromones, because he still thinks she's the bomb.

This is why I always have a bit of a laugh when my dad says, "Rachel, you don't want to marry a guy who is too good looking." I ask, "Have you SEEN the guys I've gone out with recently?" And no offense to those chaps. There are some who are handsome-ish, but I think if we did a slide-show of all my boyfriends of yesteryear, you'd see that looks aren't that important to me. As a matter of fact, I might just have to do that as a tribute to all the men I've loved before, as we get close to the centennial date mark. Yes, while my friend Brecken is getting close to her 1,000th post, I'm getting close to my 100th guy. I thought that I was doomed to go out with some really awful guys for 99 and 100, but I found in my original list, I'd skipped from 54 to 56, and there was a glimpse of dating salvation. I know it's dumb, because it's really no better to have a creeper as 101 instead of 100, but you know.... Anyway, #98 was a good date, but in the end, my little friend will just be a place-holder. And he was good-looking. But he was the exception.

Of course, maybe I'm just selling these guys short and lots of girls would love them. It's hard to tell. But I told my cousin about a secret crush I have, and he said, "Ew, that guy is SUPER UGLY!" So then again, maybe not.