Have a Nice Life

Going to a college reunion doesn't just mean reuniting with your old friends, it also means reuniting with your old acquaintances. Katy found this out the hard way when she greeted "Marjorie". Except that Marjorie's name is actually Miri, and Miri told her as much, leaving a sensitive Katy to offer an apology.

The mistake is a little more embarrassing considering that we were all wearing name tags, but Katy is dyslexic, and after five years of not seeing someone, these kinds of things happen.

The thing you need to know about Katy is that she is the sweetest person you'll meet. If anything, she's friendly to a fault, so of course she felt bad about botching an old acquaintance's name, even if the circumstances made it understandable.

As the reunion was ending two days later, Katy ran into Miri again. Katy gave her a long embrace, told her how nice it was to see her again, and parted her with, "Have a nice... life."

You could tell that Katy was searching for the right final word. Saying "have a nice day" to someone you haven't seen in five years is kind of silly, but "have a nice life" is hardly appropriate either. It's a kiss-off. That's how it read to everyone nearby, who audibly gasped, as well as Miri, who threw up her hands and sarcastically thanked Katy.

Someone heckled "You're a cold bitch!" at Katy as she stuttered in her high-pitched voice that she didn't mean it like that. We had to assure her that it wasn't a big deal because for all we knew that would be the last time she'd see Miri.

Except that it wasn't. Though the reunion was over, people stayed in the general vicinity and not even an hour later, Katy stumbled upon Miri at a local farmers' market. "Didn't think you'd be seeing me again so soon, did you?" Miri told her.

When you tell someone to have a nice life, you better be pretty darned sure that you won't be seeing that person ever again.