March 25, 2021 ~ A moment to slice before 8:00 AM

I clicked send.

Three minutes later, Sharyl comes up to my door and flings it open.

“Hey, I just sent-”

“Yes, I know. You sent it to a parent,” she interrupts.

“No, I sent it to the 6th grade reading teachers,” I respond with confidence knowing that I had diligently gone through each and every one.

“No, you sent it to this child’s mom,” she answered, “Pull it up.”

I felt the panic start to rise. No, I’m sure I typed in each and every name. I saw each teacher’s name fill the ‘To’ line.

I pull up my ‘Sent’ items and there it was. The mom’s name prominently displayed next to the names of two of my colleagues.

“OH MY GOSH… now what?!” I ask.

“Can you unsend?” she asks.

I click on buttons, I google ‘undsending’ emails.

NO SUCH LUCK… it is gone. So I exhale and reopen the email. I know it was professionally written. I know I didn’t use the child’s name, but it was a sensitive-ish topic.

I reread the email. Then I reread it aloud to Sharyl.

“It’s fine,” she tries to reassure me. I am not convinced.

I prepare an email to the mother with the utmost professionalism. I exhale.

THEN I realize that I need to tell my colleagues to NOT reply all on the last email.

I jump back up, and start typing Subject: DO NOT REPLY TO MY LAST EMAIL.

I look up at the clock. It is 7:53… oh, it’s going to be a great day.