“All women are natural born espionage agents.” (Eddy Cantor)

I wish that were true. If I were a natural born espionage agent, I’d like to think I might have at least seen my unexpected life coming! But I didn’t. Because I’m not.

And I also have to say I think becoming single again in my 40s, following 20 years of being happily married, might have been a little less confusing if I’d possessed a bit more cunning and stealth. I guess I’m just not shady enough, and never was very good at (or interested in) playing games.

Or, maybe it’s just me, and a deficiency I possess, because my 5th grader walked in the door last week and announced, “Mom, NEVER reveal your secrets to a woman!”

Barely 11 years old, and he’s already being schooled in the ways of spies, I mean, girls.

I knew exactly what was going on. “Uh-oh, what happened?” I asked. “Did you make the mistake of telling a girl which girls you like and now you have a…situation?”

He confirmed his dilemma. And although I didn’t want to lecture him, I let him know secrets and girls can be a problem. I told him it was wise to never reveal his crushes–especially to the competition! He said, “But Mom, she asked! She really needed to know.”

Yes, I bet she did. “Of course I can keep secrets. It’s the people I tell them to that can’t keep them.” (Anthony Haden-Guest) Especially with Valentine’s Day coming. It had an interesting result, too.

The secret that wasn’t a secret anymore resulted in my son returning home from school yesterday with several cans of a variety of soda pop–gifts from different girls for the holiday. He was absolutely smitten with each flavor of soda pop bequeathed to him by female admirers!

“I have always been an admirer. I regard the gift of admiration as indispensable if one is to amount to something; I don’t know where I would be without it.” (Francois de la Rochefoucauld)