Dear _____,

Taxi driver that rear-ended another car and then honked angrily…  Ya know, that kind of was your fault.  You shouldn’t be the one honking.

 

Boy jumping rope…  I don’t know kids played jump rope here.  I’d never seen it until just last week.  Brings back fun memories. :)

 

Mosquitoes…  I hate how you all seem to have this built-in sensor for when I’m just falling asleep, and you come whining by my ear.  I’m thankful you aren’t too numerous in my neighborhood, and I’m also thankful you usually don’t find me that tasty.  But there was that one night when I had the sheet pulled up around my face, and you somehow managed to take a nibble on my eyelid.  Good thing I don’t really swell up when I do get bit.

 

Ovaltine truck…  Guess what just I decided I needed to add to my shopping list.

 

Supermarket that had a fire…  You were closed for over a week - I’m glad you’re back in operation.  I just ran out of oatmeal, and you’re the best place I’ve found to buy it.

 

Rummy Roots (a card game teaching Latin/Greek word roots)…  It’s been years since I played you, but I still remember a lot of what you taught me.  When I hear a new French word, knowing Latin roots can often give me at least a hint as to the meaning.  (And thank you, Mom, for being ever on the look-out for ways to make learning fun.)

 

Creepy thing on my dining room table that looks like a spider…  I KNOW what you are, but I still sometimes have to look twice to reassure myself that it’s not a spider.

 

Stocky brown horse…  You reminded me of a teenage boy, the way you kept flipping your mane out of your eyes.

 

Choral group singing in a field near my apartment…  Ahhh.  That was beautiful.  I thoroughly enjoyed the free concert.

 

Lemon tea that steeped too long…  That was not a pleasant experience.  Lesson learned.

 

Tattered notebook with my first 3500+ words and phrases in French…  A reminder of how far I've come, when it's a lot easier to remember how much farther I have left to go...

 

Guy holding up three fingers while saying “two”…  Please don’t confuse me!

 

Bus barreling down the road with only two (yes, two!) passengers…  What?!  I am still in Africa?

 

“Pumpkin” (read: butternut squash) apple cake…  I told my friend the other day that I’d lost all sense of the four seasons (even California has four seasons when you compare it to here).  Which means that if I feel like celebrating Fall in February, there’s nothing to stop me.  I’m not sure if I made you to celebrate Fall, or if I was feeling Fall-ish because I made you, but that doesn’t matter.

 

Guy at the Bambinerie who asked me “Is it for a boy or a girl?”…  Um…that’s a pink onesie I’m holding, does that help?  A girl.  She had a girl.

 

Motley assortment of exercise machines right outside a construction site…  Oh yeah.  Building muscles, building apartments - they totally go together!

 

Friend who proofread/critiqued a newsletter of mine in our Communication Skills class at MTC (four whole years ago)…  I’m sure you never imagined that your simple pieces of advice would haunt guide me to the end of my writing days.   “Don’t use too many exclamation points,” you said, “and don’t use so many ‘…’”  Obviously these Dear _____ posts totally break that second recommendation, but outside of them, I really do try to watch my ellipses.  …And my exclamation points!