The 10% Theory

I've been thinking recently about my 10% theory. I have a lot of theories, none of them based or supported by much empirical evidence, but it's a thing I do. My 10% theory is that the most you can know someone outside of your immediate family is 90% of who they are. The other 10% remains hidden for the purposes of propriety or because you just can't remember some stuff. My opinion is once you've reached that mythical 90%, you're about as close as you'll ever be, unless you get married, then you get bumped to immediate family and that automatically adds 8% to your knowledge base. My mother, for instance, knows about 98% of who I am, 50% just because I share half of her DNA, another couple of percentages because she's also a woman and knows where I'm coming from and the rest because I'm her daughter and I'm more like her than I'm willing to admit sometimes and she can read me like a large-print children's book. I can almost never hide anything from my mom. Anyhow, I think 90% is a good percentage to aim for. The other 10%, as I've pointed out, contains things you probably don't want to know anyway, and as for keeping 10% of yourself under wraps, that's just common sense. If you give everything up, what's left? I think everyone has things they would rather die than reveal, and if we can accept this, and not push, then they'll have to respect us and do the same and everyone can keep their sanity. Believe me, I know what it's like to have that 10% violated; I won't ever forgive and I won't ever forget that trespass. That's why I stand by my 10% theory - the best relationships are ones where there is still a semblance of privacy.

Final thought: Look at me, with all the numbers flying. I hate math, but they're right - you really do need it.