open letter to the man who pulled over last night to see if i was ok:

dear sir, thank you for your kindness last night at the east bound stop light on rte 3 near that dentist's office before the walmart light. i'm sorry i stalled 16 times in a row and missed three rounds of green lights. your wife looked really mad. when you guys passed me on the left to make the right hand turn, i was very relieved because it's embarrassing to stall 16 times in a row. but then you pulled over, and i thought i must have hit you what with all the rolling backwards. or maybe you had a life flight chilled heart in your car or similar and you might want to cuss me out for killing your organs. but instead you came over to make sure the car was ok. and when i told you the car was fine, the driver was the problem, i was very relieved that you laughed. it was necessary and kindly meant, if a little embarrassing, that you asked me if anyone had taught me how to drive standard. sadly the answer was yes, but you smiled anyway. you said to feel for the clutch and to press harder on the gas and try not to stop. i appreciated the advice, the rolling stop is my new favorite traffic violation! you looked genuinely proud when i finally got going, you know i couldn't stop to thank you because it would have taken HOURS. but you followed me for a while before turning around and that was very sweet. all the way home i thought about all the nice financing options for nice gently used automatic cars. i probably only have to be in hawk for about ten years! i also thought about how nice it was that you pulled over to check on me, and not to beat the shit out of me or just to say i'm stupid without being helpful too. so thanks for being so nice!