Today I'd like to give a warm welcome to author Janet Gurtler, joining us for a fabulous guest post on...shh... *whispers* secrets!
Secrets. Oh secrets. We can’t get through many days without stumbling over a secret or two, can we? They lurk everywhere. Wrapped Christmas gifts. Surprise birthday parties. Some people are better at keeping secrets than others. I think I fall into the above “average secret keeper” category. If I were getting a mark on a secret keeping report card I’d score a B. Maybe a B+. Room for improvement, but pretty reliable.
For example, I am excellent at secrets when a friend tells me something secret and spells out the need for secrecy out from me. “Don’t tell anyone.” Those are sacred words. My lips will press together in anticipation of holding the news inside. I can hold secrets like that forever. Oh and also my own secrets. Things I don’t want the world to know. I am really good at keeping my own secrets. There are things my husband doesn’t even know and we’ve been living in the same house for almost fifteen years. Shhh. Don’t tell him.
Actually, serious secrets are pretty easy, and good secrets, the ‘so exciting I’m bursting to tell’ secrets are hard but fun to keep. If someone plans a surprise party and invites me, I usually have to avoid the person the party is for as much as possible until the party date. I’m so afraid I’ll blurt something out and ruin everything.
This is the same for good secrets like gifts. I love to give people things and I get really excited for them to know what I bought. I get almost as excited holding the secret as the person who is picking up the package and shaking the box trying to find out what the gift is. Being Santa is fun. Christmas morning is a great pleasure in my house. Not for me. I don’t get all crazy about my own gifts, more about what others receive.
I think the hardest are secrets that don’t have firm guidelines. Like maybe someone tells me something and it’s private but it’s not life changing for anyone involved. If it’s in context, I might use that story without naming names. Or where people will absolutely never run into each other as in they live in different cities and don’t share any common friends. But it’s a slippery slope. If the secret is a big one, it’s best just to stay quiet. Disclaimer. Most spouses share mostly everything and that includes secrets. So if you tell someone who is married a secret and you don’t want them to tell their husband or wife. Spell it out. Better safe than sorry.
Find out more about Janet and her works on her website at: http://www.janetgurtler.com/
Or test it first with a made a up secret to see if you can get spouses to turn on one another like Lord of the Flies! Thanks for a fun read.
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