What would you have said?
I usually hang out in the park for a while midway through about a 5 mile walk for exercise. So yesterday I was in the park and an elderly woman walks towards me on the path as I'm sitting on a bench. She says something to the effect of, "It's a wonderful day today isn't it?". So I say yes it is, and then she continues with, "Thank God for that!" or "Praise God for that!".
So in a split second I'm processing every possible response to that and just muster up a "Yep". Then I talk about how my allergies weren't allowing me to fully enjoy the nice day and a little small talk ensues. Then she walks off and once again says, "Thank God for the beautiful day!". Again, I just said "Yep". I guess I compromised with staying true to myself and not saying something like "Thank God!", but also not being confrontational with just saying "Yep".
What would you have said in that situation?
No point picking a fight with an old lady, you did fine
I'm going out on a limb here to say that right about then would be an ideal time to just cut a loud fart and smile...
Your response was good enough.
There was no debate here nor was the other person trying to purposely create debate.
I usually consider how much time and energy I want to invest, and what the return is going to be. In a case like this, very sure my response would be very like your own.