"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)