It's a small world after all ... and other earworms we know and love

The internet is a funny thing.

Both funny-haha and funny-peculiar.

And when it comes to the blogosphere (ugh, I hate that word ... anyone have a better one?), there are aspects of haha and peculiar mushed together and multiplied exponentially.

I have said many times that the online community blows me away with the love and support that flows through cyberspace. I have friends here who I would walk through fire for and who, I think (hope), would do the same for me.

But even though these friends are close to me, that's not real life. These cyberfriends live scattered all over the country -- and even the world. Most of them I will never meet in person.

Real life, for me, is very different. My blog is a deep, dark secret that not even my BFF knows about. Sometimes I let people in on the secret. One of my friends at work knows. A former colleague from my very first newspaper job who I reconnected with on Facebook figured it out.

It's not that anything I say here is secret, though. Most of the stories I tell have been told to friends and family. It's just the blog platform itself that I keep to myself.

That being said ...

There was a moment on Sunday that rocked me out of orbit.

I was at a funeral for the husband of a chorus friend. The chorus had sung a special song at my friend's request. We then went to graveside to finish the ceremony.

After which Wonderhubby and I started to walk back to the car.

Suddenly, a voice cried out.

"Janet!!"

I looked around to see who was looking for me and recognized no one.

"Janet!! You're JANET!"

Uh, yeah.

"I read you!!!!"

You WHAT??????

Holy unmasking, Batman!

It turns out the woman is a employee of the mortuary (Hi! I'm sorry I wasn't nicer and didn't get your name) and suspected when the chorus sang ... and confirmed it when she recognized Wonderhubby from photos (I think -- really, I was so unnerved that I don't remember it exactly).

I'm sure she thinks I'm the rudest creature ever because the only thing I said to her (as I turned tail and RAN to the car) was "Please ... I keep my blog life and real life very very separate!!!"

With 20/20 hindsight, I would have stopped and talked to her -- to find out how she found my blog and to actually have firsthand real-life knowledge of someone who, out of the blue, actually reads this thing.

But I freaked out and ran instead, probably scaring away a reader and a perfectly lovely human being.

It's so weird because I put my innermost thoughts and amusing stories on the internet for the whole flippin' world to see and (hopefully) enjoy.

Yet when the whole flippin' world closes in and presents me -- face to face -- with blog-meets-real-life, I panic.

And seriously? Only I would get outed at cemetery at the funeral for a friend.

Plus, who can I talk to about it? No one at the funeral. Not my in-real-life friends. Not my BFF. No one in my family. Only my friends here in cyberspace ... and Wonderhubby.

And Wonderhubby is into torture. It's now his greatest pleasure to come up behind me and yell, "Janet! You're JANET!!!"

There's gotta be a way to get back at him.