The Typo

I was on a phone call when I got the email. I should’ve waited until I finished the call to write a reply.

I didn’t. I chose to quickly write out a reply while sharing a juicy story on the phone to save a measly minute. I hit send.

30 minutes later I hung up, thoroughly satisfied with the conversation. I opened the sent email just to make sure it was alright. 

And there it was, glaring at me from the screen like a hideous cold sore that you just can’t hide. “I can send out the pubic announcement on Monday to all the new families.” 

Not “public announcement.” I wrote the word “pubic” in an email I sent out to all the members of the school’s Parent Teacher Association.

My fingers were shaking as I googled, “can you unsend an email.” No, you can’t. Would people notice? I hit reply all and started writing a correction email with an apology for the previous error.

I stopped just as I was about to hit send again. What if the new email only draws attention to the typo that only a handful had noticed? Hit delete.

I paced back and forth chewing my nails. I called my husband, “can you do school pick up today please?” 

I can’t go there today. They’ll always see me and think “pubic.” What if I just withdraw from the PTA? Maybe I’ll just never do school drop off or pick up again. 

Why was that juicy story so important that I couldn’t put it on hold for a minute? I sat down on the sofa with a plop and massaged my throbbing temple. 

Just yesterday a client had returned my draft with a snarky “At the very least you should run the draft through Grammarly to correct typos and grammatical errors before you send them to me.” 

It had left me seething then but maybe he was right. Apparently I can’t write. Forget the PTA, maybe I shouldn’t make writing a career. What other jobs could I do? 

Probably something that doesn’t involve writing emails. I hung my head down and let out a long sigh. 

Paired Listening

Regret – Everything Everything

From the Five Part Body Playlist