On that whole secrecy thing again

I was going to write about something else tonight, but having just finished a long e-mail on this subject, I might as well address it here too.

While looking at my site traffic log a few nights ago, I saw something that triggered a couple moments of panic. I was 99% certain that the identifying information for one visitor indicated my brother had paid a visit to my blog. He found it with little trouble earlier this year. When I spotted his workplace in the log, I wrote him immediately and asked that he not read or pass along the link to family members. I have no reason to believe he looked at the blog again until recently.

Now, obviously my family is aware that I keep a knitblog. The existence of this site isn't something I've kept secret from them. (It's kind of hard to do in situations like this.) It's the name and location of the blog that I've hidden.

My brother visited here because he assumed I was blogging about my time elsewhere in Texas and wanted to see what I was writing. Nothing wrong with that. I should be flattered, I suppose. Upon reasserting my desire to have family not read this blog, he told me that he did let slip the name of the site to my parents. (They were immensely curious about me meeting a reader I had never met.) Because I was being open about the blog's existence, he assumed it wasn't such a big secret any longer. Um, no. So, I have an e-mail to send to my mom to request she not come here and to explain why.

There are plenty of reasons why, but it boils down to wanting to have a place where I can do personal writing without worrying about family members reading it. I'm not necessarily uncomfortable with what I'm writing about myself--although that's not completely true--but I would be significantly less at ease if I knew my parents or siblings were reading. I know, it's weird that I am fine with strangers and friends reading but not family. (That being said, most of my non-knitting friends are oblivious to this blog.)

I've tried not to write about anyone who doesn't or wouldn't read this site, although I can't follow that rule 100% of the time. When I mention those people, I don't include their names in fairness to them. Family members are trickier. It's hard not to write about them in some respect, although in those instances I've not published their names or specifics about them.

I don't expect this development to have an impact here, although if I seem a little less forthcoming in the near future, you'll know why. I don't think I've written anything that I regret, but sometimes I vent and might say something that could be misinterpreted.

Ugh. I'm bored with this, and I imagine you are too. Hopefully this will be the last time I write about it for a long while. Back to knitting topics tomorrow.

OK mom, if you've been reading, I politely ask you to grant me this virtual space and erase all memory of this blog.