THE VALUE OF A WAVE

One day last month, I was doing some errands with my little girls, Lauren and Veronica.  And during our trip, we passed “Mr. Waver’s Fruit Stand.” Now, “Mr. Waver’s” was not actually the name of the fruit stand.  It’s just the name we gave it. For you see, each time a car would pass, “Mr. Waver” would raise his right hand and with an open palm facing the car, he would move his hand side to side doing his best to make eye contact with the driver.      

Well, we were approaching “Mr. Waver’s Fruit Stand” fully expecting the traditional wave.  As we drew closer, we looked, made eye contact and to our astonishment ... no wave. No wave at all.    

Veronica was the first one to yell out,  "He didn't wave!  Dad, he didn't wave!"       

Lauren quickly raised various theories of why he didn’t wave.      

“Dad, you drove by too fast.”                                                    

And before I could answer Lauren said, “When was the last time you stopped and bought something, Dad!?  He is probably mad at us. It’s your fault he didn’t wave, Dad.”      

[It’s always my fault … but we will save that for another Friday Story.]            

The conversation continued about why he didn't wave for the next five minutes.  Various other theories were raised, but the one that silenced the discussion (and brought us back to the fruit stand) was Veronica’s theory that he was too sick to wave, and needed help.           

Now, almost a month later, I was thinking of this event and I realized something very interesting. It was not the fact of why he did not wave at us on that day, or even why he did wave at us dozens of times before that intrigued me.  I began to wonder why did my girls and me (and many others) value his wave... and many times, even waved back.                                                    

I think that when we share something of ourselves – a smile, a kind word or even a simple wave, we make a connection.  A connection that opens ourselves up to another and says, “I am a person, and you are a person, too. And for this moment in time, you are what matters.”       

Maybe I am making too much of a simple wave, but then again maybe it’s just what you and I need at this very moment.                                                    

...a simple wave; a connection from here to there; and there to here.  Together saying, “I am okay. You are okay. And, I wish you success and happiness on your day’s journey.”                                                    

Until Next Friday,