Olivia recently pulled a stunt that simultaneously scared the crap out of me and made me madder that a sack full of wet cats.

She, against my instructions, set up an account on My Space. I found out she had it a while ago and would check her site every few days just to make sure everything was kept above board. She mostly used it to talk to her friends and to check out celebrities like Hannah Freakin' Montana. Oy. I let her know that I knew about it and that I was checking it out and she was fine with that.

Until this weekend, however. She changed her age to read 17 (she's 13) and some random guy contacted her. They talked for a bit until he started getting graphic at which point, she told him to leave her alone. What made me angry was that she gave the guy her name, her school and her address. What sent me thru the roof was that I didn't hear this from her, but rather from the vice principal at her school. Yeah, that one went over well.

The information has been turned over to the internet officer at her school and he is investigating it. I've been keeping an eye on her page and the guy hasn't contacted her again.

It scared the crap out of me, though. You hear horror stories on the news all the time and you never think your kid is going to be that stupid. Well, mine was and while it's been ok (so far), it still concerns me. In the back of my head is a little niggling fear - fear that she could be harmed or kidnapped and held. That kind of scenario just about makes me hyperventilate.

I had to make her equally scared so that she never does this again. I stressed that she could be hurt, assaulted, kidnapped, anything. That she had to be more careful. That she could only talk to friends. Not friends of friends, just people she actually knows in real life. I hope I got thru to her.

I guess I worry so much because of her diabetes. I don't tend to watch movies that are designed to make you think there's a predator around every corner, but it is something that's always there in the back of my mind. If she were to get snatched, she'd only have a day or two of insulin. Believe me, this isn't something that keeps me awake at night, but when my admittedly strange mind starts wandering down that path, that's the first thing that crosses my mind. Not the potential physical harm that might happen but the fact that she would die from a lack of insulin.

Welcome to the deep, dark recesses of my mind. Don't mind the spiders.