Miscommunication?

I'm reminded once more of the pitfalls of having only casual interactions with people on Facebook.

One of my brothers, one of my bio-father's sons, posted something on Facebook asking why deer always wait to cross the road right before a car comes. I was feeling badly that I hadn't really written to him in a while, so I wrote something back about getting to the other side, and then said I hoped everyone was okay.

He wrote back and said that they were. But this morning, a friend of his wrote that he thought it had something to do with chickens. And my brother wrote that it wasn't funny.

And I got worried. Had my lame attempt at humor offended him? I don't know him, and he doesn't know me. Had he misunderstood my comment? Or had he understood, but thought it was in poor taste? I don't know him, so I don't know how to take his response to his friend.

This internet reunion thing is crazy-making. Maybe if we met in person he would hate me.

Why do I care? Why do I fret about this? Why does it matter whether someone I don't know likes me?

Ugh. Some days I wish I could just forget all of this.