My sister called me the other day to congratulate me on Twice Upon A Roadtrip‘s reviews. Yes, I have discovered that my sister has become a regular reader of my blog.

Hi, Shan’s sister! :kiss:

No, she doesn’t comment. She calls me. Which is cool, but she can’t use the :wtf: or :penguin: smilies on the phone. :neener:

So, anyway. During the course of the conversation she said something along the lines of “I feel like I know you so much better.”

I dwelled on that statement for a good part of the weekend—along with my screaming muscles, stiffened fingers and broken fingernails—because it made me realize how much of my life my family doesn’t see/hear about and isn’t a part of.

Much of my life revolves around the computer. There’s the writing part. Other than the excitement of announcing my first sale, the husband and kids are really the only family members who suffer through that. And I don’t talk about it a lot, because who really wants to hear about it? Plus, when people talk to me, I’m often filling plot holes or some such thing in my head.

And there’s the people part. When my sister mentions a friend of hers, I know who she’s talking about. We were bridesmaids at the wedding together. Our kids play at birthday parties together. When I mention a friend of mine, people have to hesitate and try to remember who’s who, because even I haven’t met them, never mind my family. I get a lot of “who is that again?”

It’s easier, when asked what’s new, to say not much. Talk about the kids. Talk about the husbands. So there’s this major segment of my life that nobody in my family hears about. (Except my oh-so-fortunate husband, of course. Say word count and watch him twitch.)

I don’t know if she’ll remember this (I’m 6 years older, so I’ve got a leg up on the memories), but when we were young and we’d play Barbies together, she would get SO upset with me. I never said anything out loud. I’d move the dolls around, creating this soap opera in my mind. Fun for me, but it pissed her off to no end.

“Stop talking in your head, Shannon!” is what she always said.

I guess I’m still talking in my head.