To the Person Who Flipped Me Off on the Spaulding Yesterday

Dear Sir,

Like Adele once said -- "Hello, it's me." It's me, the guy that was in the gray truck from the highway merge yesterday on the Spaulding in Dover. Now, first off, I just wanted to say I'm sorry if you were nervous when I first started merging onto the highway. If we're being honest, I don't think I really did anything aggressive, because I like to be the first person to call myself out if I'm below average at something.

That said, I don't know what it looked like from your point of view when I was merging from the on-ramp onto the highway. Sure, you were in the right lane and it was possible that you could've moved over, but honestly, I didn't mind at all. But if you got nervous when I started picking up my speed and revved my engine a bit because I gave the ole girl some gas to prep for a merge from 15 to 55, I'm actually genuinely sorry.

I saw your wife was in the passenger seat while you were driving by me in the lane next to the merge, so perhaps your protective instincts kicked in and you were anticipating that I was about to go all in and merge early, directly into your vehicle and onto her lap. I didn't mean to make it seem like I was going to come into the merge all hot and aggressive, I just wanted to pick up speed so that I didn't unintentionally end up with a vehicle in my truck bed because they were going 55 and I was still going 10 in the right lane, ya know?

Everything seemed fine after that, honestly. You drove past, I merged into the right lane, then flipped over into the passing lane and punched it, as I usually do since thankfully, my truck has some decent pickup and catches me up to the speed limit pretty quickly, and then once I reach the limit (or no more than 10mph over -- because like I said, I call myself out and like to be transparent), I settle in and move back into the right lane.

During that whole passing lane session, I ended up driving by you on your left, and I hadn't planned on looking your way. See, I was going to just keep on driving and watching the road in front of me without looking your way because, again, I didn't want you to think I was coming off aggressive. I was fine with the merge -- I was fine that you didn't move over. I mean, it's not a law (that I know of, anyway), it's just a nice thing to do. But you don't HAVE to, and it's all good that you didn't.

But the reason I did look your way as I drove by was because something caught my eye. A movement. So I tossed a quick glance your way when we were next to each other, and I saw that you were looking straight ahead. At least, I think that's what you were doing -- it was tough to see because you had your left arm pressed up against your driver's side window with your hand balled up in a fist -- except for one finger.

THAT finger. Which, quite honestly, if someone you recognized me from my picture on the station website or videos I've posted on our Facebook page, and were sharing your feedback that you think my show is #1 and you really enjoy it -- THANK YOU! I appreciate it!

But if that's not the reason while you had one, lonely, solitary finger up, then let me apologize for upsetting you, or offending you, or scaring you. It wasn't my intention to make you think you had an aggressive driver to worry about, or to make you think that I felt some kind of way about you and your driving skills. The way I see it, we were all on the same team on that stretch of highway yesterday, all trying to make sure that we made it from Point A to Point B as safely as possible.

If it was because you were having a bad day, or stressed about something or worried about something (and who isn't, we're a year into a pandemic), I really hope things get better for you and everything turns around for you. I hope you and your wife had an enjoyable rest of your ride and made it to your destination safely.

And regardless of how I feel about my approach to merging onto that stretch of highway near you, yesterday -- I promise that I'll do better next time. So that maybe if it's you next to me at the merge again, the one appendage you have sticking up for me to see clear as day is a thumb, and not a finger somewhere around the middle of your hand.