Dear Large, Rusty, Dented Pickup Truck Driver,

I just wanted to say thank you for the pleasure of letting me drive behind you this morning. I understand that you don’t usually share the road with others like me at all—so I really appreciate it. After all, I am a young driver, and someone has to step up and be my role model.

Thanks to you, I now realize how selfish I really was being. How could I not realize that driving the speed limit and yielding to oncoming traffic was preventing you from getting to Dunkies one minute faster? Who am I to hold you up? I hope they were handing out medals at Dunkies, because you surely deserve one.

Not only did you teach me to reflect on my own selfish actions, but you led by example and showed me what selfless driving really looks like. For example, how considerate of you to share your music with me by turning the bass up so loud that all the dogs in the neighborhood started singing along!

And how kind of you to floor it and merge from the right lane into my left lane in the middle of the intersection, causing me to come to a full stop to avoid being side swiped. I mean, typically when your lane is going away and mine is not I would expect you to yield, but I enjoyed coming to a full stop, as we often do not slow down enough in this life to truly enjoy our surroundings. Thank you for this opportunity. How thoughtful and poignant of you.

But you’re not just selfless. You’re smart, too. You have perfected multitasking in a way I have never seen before, and was humbled to witness. How did you send your friends an “I Can’t Even” bitmoji AND make your left at the same time?! You must be a genius. Clearly your “I Can’t Even” bitmoji was not referring to your multitasking abilities. If you’re this sharp before your coffee, I can only imagine what you are capable of after your coffee.

Also, way to keep me on my toes. It is easy to get bored on a morning drive, but you kept me awake and guessing. It was an adventure. My personal favorite was when you turned without signaling (twice), because I have always admired mentalists who can read people’s minds. When you don’t signal, it gives me a chance to work on my mind reading abilities. It’s always a fun guessing game, what you will do next.

I am forever in your debt for teaching me so much. I hope we can do it again some time.

Endless gratitude,

Madisen