Just listening for my name . . .

I grew up watching the Cosby show. We'd use our VCR (remember those?) to record the episodes and watch them over and over. In one episode, Claire and her friend are constantly speaking in Spanish. Cliff watches intently, understanding nothing. When they look at him with raised eyebrows, he says, "Just listening for my name." I was reminded of that recently as I've thought about the things you learn when your neighbors are bloggers.

Two years ago, I didn't know anyone in real life who blogged, except me. Then I moved. Six months later, Kacy moved in next door to me. And she was a blogger. A REAL one -- you know, the kind that gets a hundred comments on her truly funny posts. So I searched for her blog. I found it and lurked there for a while, "just listening for my name" so to speak. But I felt guilty peeking in on her without her knowing it, so I confessed my spying to her and started to leave comments and enjoy her blog.

But I think it's probably a challenge to her knowing her neighbor reads her blog. She can't post about all the weird things we do because she knows I'm watching. I'm sure she's shown great restraint, but even still, every once in a while I hear my name. For instance, I recently learned that one of my kids dials their number on my cell phone and then they listen in on what's going on at my house. She claims she didn't hear anything interesting, but I wonder.

Last June, the house on the other side of me sold, this time to a wonderful gal named Meradith. She had a beautiful baby girl just a few weeks before Harmony was born. She sent out an email announcement with a link to her blog for pictures, so I started reading, listening for my name, and struck gold when I began reading through some of her older posts.

Meradith had dedicated a whole post to her new crazy neighbor, and she didn't even know I knew about it. I even got to hear what her friends thought of me (or her description of me) by reading the comments section. It was great. It was like listening to someone talking about you in front of your back. I thought about keeping quiet and lurking in the shadows to see what else she might say about me, but I started to feel guilty, so I posted a comment. Now poor Meradith knows I'm watching her, "just listening for my name!"

So, my blogging friends, be careful what you say about your new neighbor – she might be secretly lurking on your blog.

Comments

Michelle said…
This is such a funny coincidence! A family moved into the neighborhood and our girls became fast friends. Two weeks later, I discover she has a blog and I begin to read. In horror, I discover that a parenting choice I'd made was being exploited to show off this new neighbor's superior parenting skills, and that even though she'd kept my identity private, it would be obvious to anyone who knew me. My response was not as level and mature as yours was on Meradith's blog, and I regret that. At least what your new neighbor said wasn't degrading and exploitative! :) Keep the great posts coming, I'm really enjoying it!
kacy faulconer said…
It's a small blog world after all.
Wendy said…
That's hilarious Christina!! I'm laughing so hard at what those commenters had said, but if you were my neighbor and we were prego at the same time I don't doubt that I might have some similar thoughts as she did.
Janae said…
Wow I can totally relate. Sometimes I would like to mention an event or something but can't because I know that a few people that were not invited read my blog, or they would know I was talking about them ***Sigh*** its rough. I have to to stick to things that won't offend or embarrass anyone else, even if it would be an interesting blog post.
Dan and Marci said…
I think it has been rather fun reading about you on Kacy's blog--I'm still trying to decipher the celebrity look-a-like from our ward she posted on LRS!