Campfyre Stories

I hate secrets.  I hate having secrets.  I hate keeping secrets. 

But I love that people tell me secrets.

I’m a gossip and everyone who knows me, knows that.  That said, I also know when to keep my mouth shut and who/when it is appropriate to tell.  I don’t indiscriminately tell other people’s secrets to ANYONE, but if I hear some news that’s still underground, you can bet I’ll be a part of the grapevine.

Yesterday an anonymous friend called me and said "I have to tell you something, but you can’t tell ANYONE!"  My reply was "Really anyone?  Or just people who know you?"  "REALLY anyone."  So now I have a secret.  Thankfully, it’s a secret with an expiration date and I can tell people in about a week, so that brings me some comfort.  But it’s REALLY good (positive) gossip and I REALLY want to tell people.

But I won’t.

Then today I got another secret, but this time, at least, it’s a gossipy secret that can be leaked out a little at a time, with permission.  Clearly not for public consumption, but certainly something that I can work with without, you know, exploding from the pressure of secrecy.

You see, I’ve set it up so that most of my girlfriends (at least) don’t actually know each other.  Therefore I can, under most circumstances talk about one to another one and know that it won’t get back or leak to anyone involved or even interested beyond the story itself.  Even if I only tell ONE PERSON, at least I have told someone and that makes me feel better.

And, you know, even if I can’t disclose the actual information, the simple act of talking about why it’s frustrating to know things and not be able to share makes it all that much better.