Some messages weren't meant for email. An example I read in

PowerPhrases! by Meryl Runion illustrated that point. She tells of a college student who proposed to his girlfriend. When friends asked about the girlfriend's response, the guy says, "I don't know. She hasn't answered my emails yet." As Meryl points out, that doesn't exactly make for a romantic story to tell the grandchildren about!

In my case, I don't think the situation was quite so bad. Just amusing.

The kids were in bed. My husband was in the family room on our PC, linked in to his office account. As he pounded away on his keyboard, I started doing a variety of things that needed to get done. I balanced the checkbook. I paid some bills. And then I whipped out my laptop, prepared to do some proofreading for a relative who's about to start trying to look for a literary agent for his manuscript.

Imagine my surprise when, moments later, I received the following email from my husband:

Subject: Firm dinner dance, December 5th - 7 PM

Yea or nay?

For some reason this just tickled me. I mean, think about it. We've been in the same room for about an hour now. And he emails me a date request. How romantic!

In his defense, there was a good reason he sent it electronically. As things arise in our family schedule, I tend to email things he needs to put on his calendar. After-school soccer games, band concerts, scouting events... anything he needs to coordinate with his work schedule gets emailed to him so he can reserve the appropriate time slot. So he was just doing the same kind of thing. I keep the master family calendar on the side of the fridge (color-coded by kid!), and that was something I needed to add to the calendar. So he was being very practical.

And I guess I should be glad he wasn't planning on taking someone else!

For the record, I RSVP'd "Yea!"