NL #40: Don't write about this on your blog.

NL #40: From time to time a friend says to me, with some urgency, "Don't write about this in your blog." I always hope to be respectful of all of my friends and relatives, and I don't always have good sense, so I appreciate them telling me what not to include. Mostly, these stories are erased from my brain, but I remember a few. The names of the innocent have been withheld.

During church one day, a friend who is losing hair in that way that men in their fifties often do, got up to give an announcement. Since I have also experienced hair loss, all I could think about was how cold he must be. When I said to Ann, "I'll bet he's cold," she didn't understand the connection, but as soon as I asked him if he was cold, he understood why I was asking. He responded, "Don't write about this in your blog." We understand each other and I've found a new sympathy for men who are losing their hair.

Last night, in talking with a friend who was suffering from back pain, she said, "Being on my back all day is boring. Don't write that in your blog." Our conversation moved from pain to old age, and she noted that the older she gets, the more she realizes how much she does not know: "I keep thinking any day, someone's going to show up at my door and ask me to return my diploma. Then the next week, someone else will show up to ask for another diploma. I guess I'll know I'm in trouble when someone asks for my birth certificate."

A few years ago we were at our friends John and Jerry's home for dinner with our friends Pam and Kari. John and Jerry's driveway is difficult to navigate, so Jerry offered to turn the car around. As he did, he noticed Pam with her scooter (really a motorcycle) in the rearview mirror, and he hit the gas in order to scare her. As we came close, Pam said, "I peed a little." She didn't tell me not to write that in my blog though come to think of it that was before I was writing a blog. Thank heavens I still have a memory.

In case you're wondering, there are things I choose not to share. Don't you wonder what they are? Mary