Dear people of seattle,

To the woman at Office Max down the street from my office building who I come to with a list of questions a few times a week about their varying card stock and bulk pens, thank you for your patience but also for saying, "how can i help you now, miss intern?" with a smile. Also, for the way you zip around the store shouting how busy it is and how you wish you had more "you's" to help customers. I want your attitude about life.

To the man on the corner of second and pike with a sign reading "I just want a Big Mac" who has never once done anything more than smile at me and tell me I looked 'radiant', thank you for occasionally making my day. It doesn't matter where the compliment comes from, really, right?

To all three of my bus drivers, without you all I would probably miss my bus at least once a week for leaving just thirty seconds too late and getting stuck behind the school bus. I need to time my departures better on mondays.

To the girl in line behind me at Cafe Ladro almost every day ordering a tall americano just like myself... wanna have coffee together, you know, after work sometime? I really, really love your denim jacket and if I could have anyone's hair, it would be yours. Also, you tip the baristas every time and that's a sign of true human kindness.

To my barista at Cafe Ladro... I really want to be your friend, too. But I also really want you to move back to Montana with me at the end of the summer because I've never had better coffee in my life and the withdrawals I'm going to face are going to be worse than I can even imagine.

To the mother and daughter elderly pair that get on my ferry every Tuesday and Thursday, I kind of want to sit in your living room with you two and crochet or something because your theories about life that begin with, "You know, I've been alive for eighty three years and if you ask me..." are the bees knees.

*****

In a city where for the most part, I am completely anonymous and also on my own in every way, these people that have become regulars in my daily commute and adventures have sort of become routine with everything else. They're all marvelous and interesting characters that round out my Seattle days. And I love them, every single one, to pieces.