I'm very good at keeping secrets. People confide in me all the time because they know their stories are safe with me. I don't tell, and because of this, I know things I shouldn't know -- things about other peoples' marriages, heartaches, ambitions, and desires.
I'm not going to spill secrets here. I'm going to keep them. As a matter of fact, this blog itself is a secret. No one knows I'm writing this. No one I know is reading it. It's my secret. My own not-to-be-shared-with-anyone-I-know secret. Something I own that I won't tell my husband who is sitting across the room, smiling sadly at me because I'm working at home again. Something I won't tell my Ph.Daughter -- the one who has a degree in English Literature from one of the nation's finest. Something I won't tell anyone who might be able to peel me open and see inside.
Keeping Secrets! What a delicious thought!
Your last line is poetic: "peel me open and see inside." I'm awaiting more "fruits" of yours that you choose to share.
ReplyDeleteBTW, people flock to me, too, to spontaneously open up. Even strangers! We must give off a "safe harbor" aroma.
Yes, I too also relish keeping secrets of my own. It's that "me" part that is just *for me*!
I wonder if you've read Virginia Woolf's "A Room of One's Own" or Kate Chopin's "The Awakening"? Much of what you have said in this post are echoed in these works.
ReplyDeleteGreat minds, right?
GeL - I think you're right about the people who tell us things. I sometimes think it's that I'm very non-judgemental and would NEVER say that I wouldn't do something. Empathy is probably my middle name -- yours, too?
ReplyDeleteRoberta -- I love The Awakening! (The Story of an Hour, too) I haven't read A Room of One's Own, but I think her "The Angel of the House" may have come from that, and I love that, too.
While I love my husband and my life, I have always craved solitude and something of my "own."
Oh! Have you read Chopin's "Desiree's Baby"? Great twist at the end I never saw coming!
ReplyDeleteI think that women in particular, although they adore their husbands and their lives with them, need a place to contemplate the complexities of life.
Hense the quilting circles, I suppose.
Karen, yes, I love this because I find so many similarities with me. My blog is one of my secrets, too. :-)
ReplyDeleteI am also a very good listener, people confess in me and are not afraid that I will tell to others their secrets for there's little I abhor more than such a "telling"...
Roberta - I love the idea of the modern-day quilting circle. We are patching together pieces of our lives when we write, aren't we?
ReplyDeleteVesper - I'm glad that I was "let in" on your secret! I love the way you state it too -- there really is little that's more abhorrent than an untrustworthy person. I try to live by the four agreements. I'm not sure I'm always successful, but that Toltec wisdom truly is wisdom. Thanks for stopping by.
You do write poetry. Beautifully. Thank you, Karen....
ReplyDeleteAnd to you, Alex, whoever you may be, thank you for reading and for those most welcome words of encouragement.
ReplyDelete