I am, generally, a good cyber pen pal. It's a nice talent to have in these days when we aren't congregating like we used to. Fortunately, words come easily to me, and I can compose a chatty email that's easy for the recipient -- who likely doesn't consider him/herself a writer -- to answer. I sent such a chatty email to my friend, Nancy.The subject line was: "A tough time to be a mom." I asked Nancy about her daughter, Ivy. She's a college student who came down with Covid19 while crashing with friends in St. Paul, which means Ivy was battling a serious illness at the epicenter of racial unrest. Then I asked about Nancy's son. Peter has battled drugs and alcohol. He's riding out the pandemic somewhere out west.* Having lost his restaurant job due to the shut down, he's been under a lot of stress and stress isn't always conducive to sobriety.
Then, since one of her cats suddenly died recently, I asked Nancy if her house seemed empty, and whether she and her husband had considered adopting another cat.
Only in my rush to hit "send," I left out a couple words. I closed by asking Nancy if her house seemed empty, and whether she and her husband had considered adopting.
My 50-year-old friend admitted she found my question shocking. In fact, she said, she literally choked when she got to the end of my message. Those last two forgotten words made all the difference in the world.
When I corrected my lazy mistake, we had a good laugh about it. I don't mind being court jester for my friends in these tough times.
*I forget. Utah? Wyoming?
I got a chuckle from this.
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