*Ta

Dear Mr. White Car,

Please forgive me for dinging your door. I was sure that my daughter would stay in the car for 10 seconds while I ran across the street to get her sister from ballet. (I might add that I was 15 minutes late to pick her up, so she really was sitting there waiting for me.) I had driven past the ballet studio twice looking for parking, so I was happy to have a spot open up, never mind that I had to park with one wheel on the curb because our massive car doesn't fit in the 1950's parking spots on Racecourse Road. Everyone within a 100 meter radius heard the "thunk" when she opened the car door - and smashed the massive door into your cute little white car, leaving a small dent and a 2 cm gash in your paint. I was glad you came out of the coffee shop at that time, because I am not the type to leave without saying what happened. So I'm writing to tell you thank you for not cursing me or my sweet, tutu-clad ballerinas, and for turning down my offer of money and insurance information. I know you were pretty angry - especially considering you've only had the car for 2 weeks. Since I don't know your name and have no way of returning the favour, I'll just have to pay it forward and encourage anyone else who is out there to please be extra nice to someone today, because someone was nice to me.

Thanks and

Kindest regards,

Juli

Here are the girls last July near Twin Falls, Idaho.

* "Ta" is short for "thanks," like "hi" means "hello." This is one of my favourite aussie words.