That much is true

Have you heard? The CIA is looking for a few good men...actually, women would be good, too. Foreign language experience a plus. Minorities encouraged to apply (particularly those who speak Arabic languages, natch). Are you interested? Or, as the ad campaign puts it, "are you a person of curiosity and integrity" and "are you ready for a world of challenge...a world of ambiguity and adventure?" I don't know about you, but to me these ads seem to be sending a somewhat mixed message. Or maybe not so much a mixed message as a confused one. Do people seeking a "world of ambiguity" strike you as the same people who would describe themselves as persons of integrity?

The husband and I have a running joke that he should never quit his day job and try to be a spy, because he is the least stealthy person I know. I, on the other hand, once seriously considered applying for a writing instruction job at the CIA because it paid so well (starting salary for someone with my qualifications was over a hundred thousand, unheard of in my business). I didn't apply, largely because we had just moved South at the time, and moving back to DC wasn't really an option, unless we wanted to follow the pattern set by a lot of his pharmacy school friends and live apart but married, which always struck me as absolutely beyond the pale. So anyway, I gave up my career in intelligence, but only temporarily, I like to think. To stay in a heightened state of readiness, I am practicing sneaking up on my son, blending inconspicuously into new locations (my most effective disguise? harried mother), and describing random passersby to imaginary sketch artists. Clearly, the CIA wants me!