Exposed!

On three, everyone look shocked and appalled! One....Two....THREE. Whew...!
Now that we've got that out of the way, let me confess. The other day I received a terse email from a friend with whom I'd been having ongoing issues with. Agitated, I proceeded to forward the email to a confidante in hopes of blowing off some steam. At the beginning of the forwarded message, I added a two-sentence commentary including my most eloquent reflection to date: "What a BRAT!!!"
I thought I did a pretty good job editing myself and stating my feelings succinctly. I even chose a tasteful insult. Brat: meaning a "child, especially an annoying, spoiled, or impolite child." Not so harsh. It's a term that adults use to describe their friend's or relative's kids.
Insult chosen, I hit send with passion and, no sooner than that, did I realize that haste certainly makes waste. I had forwarded the email back to my friend who had sent me the terse email instead of to the intended recipient. I tried to stay calm and immediately began typing a "So, about that email you probably just read..." follow-up email. A million different replies (i.e. lies) went through my head: "I didn't mean it.", "I was referring to someone else", "I was KIDDING!". I even considered using the semantics argument. There are many different meanings to the word, brat. Unfortunately, none were any less insulting. Personally, I'd rather be called a "holy terror" than "a small pork sausage"!
Although I felt a small amount of penitence was in order (for the record, I did make amends), I found the ordeal quite humorous and shared my misfortune with others who had similar anecdotes to share. Ah, yes, it's times like these that bring us all together. It's good to know I am not alone. As much as I try to hide the fact, I am human and fallible. Thankfully, not every moment of exposure to my humanness calls for deep life lessons to be learned. Sometimes it's enough to throw my hands up and laugh a little!