Information

The word for today is INFORMATION, as in too much INFORMATION. I began to think about this because as I tell more and more people about this blog, I realize that the bigger the audience the more I may limit what I write about and whom I write about. I will not dishonor the confidences or indiscretions of friends. I will be discrete in revealing my own ugly indiscretions and judgements. Promises, promises....

But I now participate in this particular INFORMATION genre. I want to make some of my thoughts public, not my entire life, and it's up to me to make sure I honor the difference between the thoughts I want to share and the intimate details of my life that I want to keep private (nothing salacious believe me).

So now I feel like stopping because I don't want to reveal any more INFORMATION. I am one of those people who think of myself as very open, yet tell others almost nothing about myself. I walk the streets with my dog Rosie, and let her take care of the introductions. Which 12 step program were you in, asked an acquaintance the other night. I don't talk about that, I replied, the whole point of the program is that it's anonymous! The manuscripts I submit in memoir class consistently receive the following feedback: I love your style, but I want to know more about the narrator.

Recently, I found an old college friend through Facebook. I appreciated the INFORMATION about where she lived and worked. I appreciated being able to get in touch with her again. The day after our reunion in NY I saw that somebody posted INFORMATION about the latest marriage of my friend's college boyfriend, the man who broke her heart in her twenties, the man who broke her heart hard. Too much INFORMATION I thought. And then, I got my dose. I checked this same friend's Facebook page and saw that she had "friended" my college boyfriend/ex-husband. Without thinking I clicked on his name and saw a picture of him looking very happy with his second wife.

Too much INFORMATION. The INFORMATION superhighway. I thought it was a place to run away, but it leads me right back to where I started. Maybe that's not so bad. After all I'm still breathing, and Rosie is still here, somewhere.