On Being Outed

October 30, 1999

That's being "found out" - not the other meaning for being outed.

I came home the other night and went online for a minute. I used the drop down list of sites to head over to my mailbox when I noticed something out of the ordinary. So I called out to middle child, daughter, "L, come her for a minute."

L sits down in one of the chairs in the den and I say to her, "So, you have found my web site and have been reading my entries there."

Silence. She tries to maintain a dispassionate face.

"How long have you been reading there?"

silence

"How long have you been reading there?"

"I'm not saying I was," in a pitiful attempt to maintain innocence.

"Uh huh. And the fact that the drop down list shows someone has been on my web site, at a certain entry, which I certainly have not been to lately. And, it's the most recent thing on the list?"

Sheepish look, not a smile, just a whole body sheepish thing.

"How did you find out. Did I forget to clear the drop down list?"

"I'm not telling."

Verbal dodge ball is played for a while, and then she confesses to have known about it for some time. Has sent a friend to look at a specific picture there. The friend is from another state, and I ask if anyone from her school knows. "Oh NO."

So a deal is struck, and somehow I think she likes the idea that she is a part of a conspiracy to not let anyone else in the family know.

She says she won't read.

Uh huh.

I suppose some degree of self-censorship is in order, now that my 15yr old knows where I hide out.

Oh well, sooner or later it was bound to happen. And I don't mind the "shared secret" thing, it's nice to be special.