My public

I have to be honest with you. I know you're there. No, I don't know who you are, but I do have a nifty program that tells me how many of you there are. I haven't looked at for a while because -- well, because I didn't really want to know. I liked the idea that it was just my mother, Cyberspace Sarah, Molly, Audrey and, of course, that sweet little peanut Margaret, who is teaching me pray like a Catholic. I have scars. Pope County Tribune scars. Big, "Good heavens, Mother, the entire county did not have to read the personal details of my life in your column!" scars. You get gun shy about having stories in print. But several of you have spoken to me of late about reading my blog and so I feel a little speech is in order.

(Ahem.)

If you know me personally, you need to know I am not holding anything back here in my blog unless I think it might hurt someone (PCT scars!!). What you see is pretty much what you get with me, but there may be parts of me you just don't know about. Not because I am deceptive -- au contraire -- Jesus Christ calls me to a life of truth, but like all human beings there may be parts of me I reserve for whatever reason. Well, you're going to read about them here, and you need to keep in mind that what I write, like the great Psalmist David, may be a reflection of how I feel at the moment. It is for my good mental health that I write here, and I am delighted if you get a kick out of it too, but you must take me warts and all.

So there.