Levels of Friendship

I just got done forwarding off one of those cute emails that everyone sends around to everyone else. Each time I do this, I wonder..."do I know this person well enough to send them this?" I'm not even talking about an "off-color" message. Do you send these off to the person who just emailed you yesterday for the first time (I'd think not)....or only to people that you would trust your kids with in a major catastrophe? Am I presuming a particular intimacy that isn't there if I am the first one to send this (kind of like using the informal "you" in a foreign language...at least once upon a time).

I grew up in a town where everyone had six-foot block walls around their properties and it was considered rude to show up on someone's doorstep without calling first. I remember my mom sitting in our house going "shhh" when someone knocked on the door, because she didn't want to talk to whomever was out there. I didn't blame her. If they hadn't called, they were probably Mormon missionaries.

Maybe because I'm Lutheran, too. It's not like we're often very huggy-friendly people. I'd have to admit, I myself would rather sit at the computer and talk to someone 2000 miles away than talk to someone face to face. (I remember when I was a kid, there was an article in Scholastic Magazine that was saying that someday, people would relate better to their computers and would stay in their house and wouldn't relate to people.....as if that were some sort of tragedy!!!) :)

I wonder about it with blogs and such, too. My wonderful husband has been out of town this week, and I've noticed that I've been compulsively blogging.....on other people's blogs. It doesn't help that early communion has been a topic. I bet you can't tell that one is an interest of mine. Have I overstepped my bounds? Am I saying too much? Am I being obnoxious? At least I have the comfort that Pr. Petersen "stole" that picture of my husband from my blog!

I do end up worrying about my kids' behavior and if they are being obnoxious...when often, they are being kids and other people realize this. I think my parents were really uptight about that, but I often find that right after I chewed out my kids for doing something, that they had absolutely no problem with letting me act that way. And my poor kids don't get a break from me! It's proper behavior prison at the Horn Household.
(ok...maybe I'm not that bad. maybe I am. maybe I should start capitalizing....naah)