Dear Strangers in Paris,

To the man on the bike with baguettes in your basket weaving up and down the narrow street,

To the 2 young teen girls who did a double cheek kiss goodbye on the metro,

To our waiter wearing a black bow tie who insisted on pouring our wine for us every time we got low,

To the gorgeous woman riding a moped smoking a cigarette as you navigated your way onto the sidewalk around a bus,

To the guys who mooned us while we were on our boat tour of the Seine,

To all the patisseries with your baguettes and croissants and pain au chocolat,

To cafe patrons sitting outside with your beer and wine, smoking your cigarettes,

To French people everywhere with your adorable accents,

...thank you. You made our experience of Paris completely wonderful and unique and I can't imagine our two days in Paris any more perfect (besides for the rain and overcast skies).

Dear man mowing your lawn,

I appreciated the fact that you had your two teenage daughters helping you with the yard work.
You are teaching them responsibility, ownership and the value of hard work among many other things.
They'll thank you for it someday, even if they aren't right now.

Also, you had a very nice lawn. Hard work does pay off.

Vanessa

Dear loud whistler,

While your whistling skills were well-honed, your choice of "Teenage Dream" was quite unexpected.
As was the fact that you were clearly in your late 40's, possibly 50's.

Keep up the stellar whistling,

Vanessa

Dear Elderly Couple,

My heart was warmed and my face smiled (yep, my whole face did) when I saw you both walking out of Zehrs with pink balloons and flowers for perhaps your daughter or son who just had a baby girl.

I wanted to say "Congratulations" to you, but I didn't.

So now I am.

Congratulations! You're grandparents! Enjoy!

Mazel Tov!

Vanessa

Dear man at the YMCA,

You are by far, the strangest person I have ever seen at the Y.

You were walking on the treadmill.

Wearing an outdoor fall-type jacket and jeans.

With your hands in your pockets. 

Um, I'm pretty sure that's not even safe to do while walking outside, much less on a treadmill.

Still really curious (and mildly concerned),

Vanessa

*this idea was taken from my friend Beth who devotes an entire blog to letters to strangers. You should check it out.