This week’s tip is a hyperlocal version of Thank You Wave Wonders from March of last year (also a rehash of the glories of the Zipper Merge). Take that highway wave and turn it around - to your neighbors.
In our previous homes, I’ve always been a “neighbor waver” - maybe it’s my rural roots, but if I’m driving less than 40 and in close proximity to an oncoming driver, I’m probably gonna wave. The two finger wave, not the one-finger one…
EVERY TIME, my daughter, Anna, asks “Who’s that, Mom? Do you know them?” My response is always “They’re our neighbor,” which ends up in other questions about where they live and are they really our neighbor, etc. The thought of waving to an unknown person has always conflicted with her autistic literal brain and the concept of “stranger danger”.
Now, we live in a neighborhood with 375 houses, about 1,000 people. There’s one way in, one way out, and a single main loop street with offshoots. Most of us know the cars we see all the time and even if you don’t know someone, if they’re on the road, they’re your neighbor. Everyone waves to everyone. It’s a thing. And it’s made the “neighbor” concept more real for her. Friends who visit joke that we all just need this attachment on our cars:
You know what I notice? When I’m outside the neighborhood and someone I don’t know waves to me, once the feeling of “do I know them” passes, I’m left with a little jolt of joy. It lightens my day for a split second.
Try it this weekend. You never know when the slightest tilt of two fingers is just what someone needed in that split second. Next time it might be you. Here’s to YOU (with two fingers)!
Happy serving (with a wave),
Stephanie Sharp
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