I just got off the phone with my Mom. (She's fine. Thanks for thinking to ask.)
She likes when I send her emails. She prints them out and takes them to share with all the other folks she hangs out with at her housing place (which is a nice, wonderful place). She forwards the emails to numerous family members.
Somehow, the knowledge that my emails are shared widely makes me vaguely uncomfortable.
So what I don't get: I blog about stuff and I know perfect strangers can read it, and I'm fine with that. So why am I vaguely uncomfortable that my Mom's friends are reading my emails (which I've been sending to my brother's family as well as my Mom, so they're rhetorically intended for not just one person)?
More understandable: my Mom says her friends really enjoy my letters (hard to believe, eh?) and likes that I write and wants me to write more to her/them. But she doesn't write back much (twice since I left the US), and when she does it's like two lines. Of course, I recognize that it's easier to write if you're doing something new and seeing stuff than if you're hanging out with your usual crowd doing your usual stuff.
My courses are prepped and classes start tomorrow. Wish me luck!
Luck wished upon you! Huzzah for the Yankee in Britain! :)
ReplyDeleteYeah - I understand about the mom thing. It's a lot easier being read by strangers than it is being read by relatives. Anonymous readers have no context for your life, and we just pick up the bits and pieces we enjoy. But the relatives? They know you and will probably wonder if any of this has to do with them. Sort of the nature of the beast.
Hope you have (or had, given the time difference) a great first day of classes, harbinger of a fabulous semester!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with courses starting soon (not that you'll need it because you rock!). As for the unease about shared letters: I do understand. Think of it this way: if you posted your letters to Mom and sibling in a blog, you probably wouldn't feel so bad about them sharing that since it's a semi-public forum, but email still feels private!
ReplyDeletebest with the classes!
ReplyDeletewell, your mom has made clear that your emails are Newsletters Of Interest, and she likes sharing them. you are bringing adventure to others! giving them something to talk about! you probably won't change much about what you write, but now you know the audience.
you can ask her "what's new?" or follow up on something she's mentioned, and perhaps get more email. it might contain a lot of details of her friends' lives, which i promise are not as exciting as your life at the moment, but one never knows what might turn up.