"THOSE" E-MAILS

You know the ones.....the dreaded "forwards"! Now, I will admit that I have sent these out myself. And I have enjoyed getting some of the ones I've been getting. I do like a lot of them. But then there are those "let's make this person feel so guilty about not forwarding this e-mail that she will do it to save herself from the throes of......well, whatever". That's just not right! First of all, I'm a mother....I have all the guilt I can bear, thank you very much! 45 years of guilt is a lot to carry around without adding more. So, forgive me...I'm not forwarding those e-mails. Nope, not doin' it! And, more often than not, I'm not reading very many of them anymore, either. I've seen most of them. The black "X" at the top of the screen is almost worn out from deleting the 10th copy of the same e-mail I got 4 years ago that said if I didn't foward it, I would surely be the scourge of all mankind. What I really enjoy the most are e-mails that tell me about what's going on in the lives of the people who send them. If they have time to send me a "forward", they have time to type "we are fine, hope you are, too". That's all I need to hear if they don't have time to say more. At least, I then know they are still on the planet and haven't been abducted by aliens or locked in the basement forced to watch old Game Show reruns. On second thought, the reruns probably are more appealing than some of the "guilt-laden" e-mails. On third thought, how do I know the aliens aren't the ones pretending to be someone I know and sending out the e-mails?