I was so excited to drop the impromptu Valentine
in through the car window—a white heart
with a big blue eye at its center that I’d ripped
into shape from an old magazine cover.
It slipped through the open window
and landed just right on the driver’s seat,
the eye facing up, the heart facing the door.
Imagine my surprise when my friend Kyra
told me she hadn’t been in town today.
Really? I asked her, stunned. Really, she said.
Because who would think there were two
red station wagons in town with the passenger door
bashed in and the back full of camping gear?
Dear stranger in the red station wagon who parked in town,
I know I didn’t give you the heart on purpose,
but I’m so glad I did. Sometimes our mistakes
have so much to teach us. Now I know
how I want to treat strangers: Like beloved friends.
Like people I thrill to shower with love.