#Remembering what you do or don't know

One aspect of being a Revs husband is that sometimes the other half will share what has gone on at one of the various meetings she attends.  

I think she does this as a form of debriefing to help her think through some of the issues raised.

And of course as part of the conversations at church with others I'll sometimes learn some news.  (This often happens when my wife is busy with somebody else or simply at one of her other churches and so people are telling you something for you to pass on as a message.)

So I know about some things because of conversations at meetings I wasn't at.  And I know about other things because people have asked me to pass a message on to my wife.  (I normally write these the key words from these messages down at the end of the conversation so I can pass them onto my wife accurately.

What is a bit tricky is knowing - if you know what I mean - what information is in the public domain and what isn't.   Now I know that according to best practice the person telling you the information shouldn't share stuff they weren't meant to  - or should make it clear what information shouldn't be shared with others.  

Buts lets face it, people are rarely that clear in one to one conversations or in discussions in meetings.

I find what helps me deal with all these "what am I meant to know or not meant to know" situations is that fortunately I have a very bad memory unless I write things down.  

This is fortunate because - when people have conversations with me starting with words like "Have you heard about xxx" or "What do you think about what happened at the xxx meeting" I can truthfully say I don't remember what that was all about.