Bill,
I should have told you we were having a party.

I find that I know my various friends paradigms (WOF, charismatic, evangelical) and filter my expression accordingly.

Robby,
Me and the very fair-skinned, very blond Antonio would love to have a beer with you and Wendy. And in your honor, I might actually drink a beer.

Thanks for your friendship and encouragement!

Robin,
It’s great that you are a multi-dimensional blogger. I think you do contribute to the faith conversation. I appreciate the thoughtful posts you’ve written about your parents, and I really enjoyed hearing about your prison experience. You just have a great way of weaving it all together with the rest of life.

As far as outing myself, I would like to stay in denial. “People will never find my blog. My kids don’t know about happy trails.” Don’t pop my bubble!

Shamefully I can’t remember what names I’ve used elsewhere, although I may have used my real name at Fr’nklin’s blog. If I said it was real, it was, because even though I uses aliases, I don’t lie.

Even though we haven’t emailed, you would certainly be welcome in my home. I have enjoyed getting to know you through the blogs. And if you have any burning questions, my email is on the welcome page.

Thanks Tom,
I finally googled. Lindsay is a different type of celebrity than I imagined. LOL. There is a slight resemblance in appearance since we are both middle-aged brunettes.

Wayne,
I think that transparency and being known are both more difficult for those in the pastor position. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Lori,
We have a few of our 100% friends coming over this evening. Good times!

WHAT A HOOT!!

Heck, she lives almost next door….LOL

T

(Had to do a search to make the connection.)

Just some observations from a guy who’s been reading here less than a year.

In this post you refer to people you know in “real life” three different ways; people who knew me, my friends, my acquaintances. The first and the last groups don’t seem too personal. The middle catagory, “my friends”, already know you, if they really are Friends.

Last observation; I appreciate and enjoy your honesty, transparentness, and astute articulation that is demonstrably “YOU”.

Tom

For six months I blogged without giving anyone my URL; I used my family’s real first names and wrote as if I were being read. Eventually, I shared the link w/a few…gradually others. I had moved to a new state and blogging was a creative outlet (not a means of exploring my faith and working through abuse….).

Now, more and more people in my life are reading me…and it affects how I write. There’s a sense of lost freedom from being accountable to so many. There are stories I’d like to tell, but because they involve people who know each other (who may not know about the stories), I’m reluctant even to broach them.

Of course, yours is a very different tale…very different motive.

If your friends, acquaintances read you, they will begin to see you differently. Because of the depth of your writing and your talent in communicating cohesive thought, they’ll probably take a step back and see you in new ways.

IMHO, I think it would be nice for YOU to control your outing; an almost preemptive strike kinda sorta.

There’s also a part of me that imagines how my blog conversations would have gone had I been living my faith online, so to speak. I consciously rebelled against being a “mommy blogger” or “God blogger”, and I think in the process lost out on some wonderful conversation.

Anyway……..is the name I’ve seen you use else where your real name??? Now I’m curious, daggum it, and wish I were in email convo with you .

peace

As one of those who knows your secret identity, let me just say that the invitation to visit our home, spend time with my family and I, and even have me buy the first round of beers for you and your husband Antonio (now he’s got an alias, too! ) would be an honour for us.

I’d just say don’t do anything more rash than delving through your entire blog and removing the incriminating evidence. Oh wait… you did that last week!

Whichever way you decide to go, please keep blogging in your honest and well-written way. For someone who didn’t set out to be a writer, DANG you’re good at it!