E-mail is a Risky Medium

Last year I started hosting Dessert Nights for my students' families. It's a fun opportunity for me to hang out with "my kids" and get to know the important people in their lives. It also lets the families put a face to my name (and, in some cases, learn how to pronounce it-- always positive). I've now hosted three, and they've been overwhelmingly positive.

For this year's first Dessert Night, I sent out a reminder e-mail...

and I was immediately reminded of how risky a medium e-mail can be. Surely this e-mail (from a parent) was not intended for me, nice though it was: 

I considered how I should respond. My immediate inclination was to send a funny e-mail back, but I don't know this parent, and I didn't want to make some sort of major relationship tactical error. I considered my options, and finally replied:

It turned out to be a safe and amusing choice.

She was laughing, I was laughing, all was well. But it made me so grateful that the accidental e-mail I received was so very nice!