A Big Jerk

Having a newspaper column means that sometimes I get emails from people who respond to a particular column of mine. It's flatering that someone will read words I've written and be galvanized to actually sit down and write me an email so I've always written back a friendly reply. Recently a woman from Boston contacted me, and I wrote back enthusiastically because I used to live there. Since my editor is interested in any reader feedback I receive, I forward all these emails to her, usually with a line or two from me. In this particular case, I wrote, "Another fan. Ha. Ha." Unfortunately, I was distracted by a phone call, and instead of forwarding it to my editor, I accidentally hit the REPLY button and then SEND. It was one of those moments where you wish there was a 30 second window to retrieve an email before the other person receives it. I felt like a big jerk but especially when I opened the terse email she sent a day later that said I should keep better track of my reply messages. What could I say? She was right. Something that was meant to be funny took on an entirely different tone. From her perspective, it sounded like I was making fun of her when, in fact, the mockery was totally self-directed. I'm not so full of self-importance to belive that I actually have "fans." My first instinct was to write back an apology and explain the mistake, but, really, it just sounded like an excuse for bad behavior. Besides, I'm just self-flagellating enough to consider her poor opinion of me my just desserts. But, just in case "BostonTheresa" is reading this, I'm really very sorry, and you're right... I am a jerk.