Maureen stared at the blinking cursor in the box for the e-mail’s subject. She started and then erased several options. How could writing one simple e-mail make her feel like a socially inept teenager? And if she couldn’t come up with a subject, how was she going to write the e-mail itself?
It wasn’t as if this were her first time e-mailing him. Best just dive in.
From: Maureen O’Connor
To: Kirby McNeill
Subject: Weekend Plans
Dear Kirby,
She knew it looked old-fashioned—her grandson probably never addressed any of his e-mails as “Dear So-and-so,” not even the business e-mails she knew he sent dozens of each day. But she couldn’t help it. Surely Kirby would understand her formality. Hopefully, he’d appreciate it. He seemed like that kind of man.
It was wonderful to have you join us at the food bank and women’s and children’s shelter on Memorial Day. We certainly appreciated the extra help, and I hope you enjoyed yourself and got to know some of the members of the Keenagers class.
There. That was a pretty good start. What next? I would like to spend more time with you, so I hope you’ll decide to join the church and the class so I can see you more often.
Her face burned from just thinking it. So, no. She tapped her fingertips lightly against the keys. As one of the volunteers in charge of outreach for the senior adult group, she usually whipped out several e-mails a week to visitors and members alike. She’d never had this kind of trouble figuring out what to say.
We have some wonderful activities planned
Wonderful activities? No, scratch that.
Our summer schedule is full of activities, and I hope you’ll have time to join us for some of them. This coming weekend we will be hosting a fish fry at the Hillsboro Village Assisted Living Center—two blocks up Acklen Avenue from the church—on Friday evening beginning at four o’clock for setup. Saturday, a group is going to the Country Music Hall of Fame to see the special Southern Gospel exhibit. And Sunday, there is a church-wide dinner on the grounds to help the youth raise money for their missions trip later this summer.
She looked at the activities calendar and typed in a list of other major activities coming up over the next couple of months. After typing in only about half of the planned events, she read back through them and cringed. They had far too many things on the schedule.
I know this list may seem overwhelming—especially to someone so recently retired. But I just wanted to give you a sampling of all of the choices that the Keenagers group offers seniors to stay active and busy, while also understanding that most people aren’t going to be able to participate in everything.
If figuring out the subject line of the message had been hard, coming up with an innocuous closing for the e-mail proved even harder.
I hope
What did she hope? She hoped he’d ask her out on a date—that was what she really hoped.
“Maureen O’Connor, what is wrong with you?” She shook her head at the silly schoolgirl thoughts. “You can’t be thinking about dating at eighty-four years old.”
I hope you’re having a good week, and we look forward to seeing you again soon.
Sincerely,
Maureen O’Connor
And as she usually did, she included her phone number under her name. Before she could second-guess herself, she clicked SEND, and off the message went.
She moved on to uploading photos from the food bank and shelter events to the group’s Facebook page. After only a few minutes, the computer chimed to let her know she had a new e-mail message.
She switched over to the e-mail program—and her heart gave a little flutter when she saw the name of the sender on the only new message in her box. She had to make her hand stop trembling to double click on the message.
From: Kirby McNeill
To: Maureen O’Connor
Subject: RE: Weekend Plans
Dear Maureen,
She knew he’d be someone who would appreciate the formality of pretending like this was a real letter.
I had a wonderful time Monday participating with the group at the food bank and the shelter. Thank you for inviting me to come. I have printed your e-mail and will look at my calendar to see which of the future events I might be able to participate in.
I will try to make it to the events this weekend, as my granddaughter will be out of town, so I will be on my own and in need of something to do. The weekend after, however, I will be in Alabama, visiting my son and his wife, so I will be unable to attend any events.
I am thinking about looking for a small apartment or house to rent or purchase in Nashville so I don’t have to stay in a hotel each weekend. Can you recommend the best areas to start my search? Unlike my granddaughter, I have no desire to live downtown, especially since I will only be there for the weekends. Nashville has changed so much since I was in seminary there that I do not know where to tell a real estate agent I would like to begin looking. Your thoughts?
I look forward to seeing you again and to becoming a more active member of the Keenagers group.
Until next time,
Kirby
Maureen bit her bottom lip. “I look forward to seeing you”—singular or plural? You as in the group, or you as in Maureen herself?
Gracious—she couldn’t, shouldn’t, do this to herself. The computer chimed again with the notification of another new e-mail. She closed Kirby’s e-mail and opened the new one—an automated message from Facebook.
Kirby McNeill wants to be friends with you.
Now she was certain she would go into a teenage meltdown. How did these young girls stand it—getting signals like this without knowing for sure if the man in question was romantically interested or truly just wanted to be friends?
She considered asking Jamie next time she saw her grandson. But given how much he liked to tease her about how addicted she was to social media already, she decided just to wait and see what happened with Kirby over the next few weeks before even mentioning him to Jamie. They’d met. That was enough for now.
And just to keep from seeming overeager, she closed the e-mail and went into the kitchen to start a batch of lemon cookies. She would answer Kirby’s e-mail and accept his friend request later. She’d learned many, many years ago that it was sometimes better to make a man wait rather than to show one’s eagerness.
But she would be accepting Kirby’s friend request. And possibly any other requests he might put to her. And she wouldn’t be dishonest in recommending he start looking for a place to live right here in Crieve Hall.
Sixty-five years ago she’d discovered the effectiveness of forcing patience onto an eager suitor when she’d made James wait a day or two for her responses to his letters and when she’d turned him down for dates requested hours before he wanted to go out.
But as a twenty-year-old nursing student, she’d had her whole life in front of her—unfortunately, James had fewer than twenty years remaining. But at least she got to spend that time with him before his heart failed.
She returned to the living room and sat back down at the computer. Neither she nor Kirby had twenty years left. And patience was overrated anyway.