Saturday, March 1, 2008

Doing the wave

“Hey, I waved at you yesterday, didn’t you see me?”
“I passed you driving up the hill the other day. You didn’t wave—is everything ok?”
“You’re not ignoring me are you? I waved at you the other day—you were looking right at me.”
“Can’t believe you were too busy doing yard work to notice me driving by!”

There was a time when I heard these and countless similar statements on a daily basis. I live on a corner—not a good idea for so many reasons… I also drive a very recognizable car (we call it the x-box), I’m a preschool teacher and I live near my work place. Everyone within miles recognizes me when I’m driving through town or working in my front yard. I’m going with the assumption that the recognition is positive…

I’m also a person who’s easily lost in thought. I like long lines at the grocery store or gas station—sometimes those are the only still moments of my day.

Anyway, driving time tends to be writing time, not literally—we’ve discussed this before. I’m writing and rewriting in my head…unless my children are with me, then I’m answering questions faster than I can think.

Sometimes, I’m so lost in thought that I don’t remember getting from point A to point B. No worries, I have an excellent driving record—I just don’t remember why.

There’s also a natural phenomenon called sun reflection—I have no control over it…it’s dependent on time of day and direction traveled, causing glare on windshields, thereby making driver recognition impossible. Unfortunately, all SUVs look alike to me…

Being a naturally friendly person, I say hi to everyone I meet…there are drawbacks to that. When I don’t wave, many people assume the worst…I don’t have room for that burden on my shoulders.

So I wave at everyone now—strangers wave back in confusion, wondering how they know me. My writing time is suffering, but it’s for the greater good.

As I waved at someone driving by last night, my son asked, “Who was that, Mom?”
“I have no idea.”
“Then why’d you wave?”
“It’s a complicated world, honey.”

2 comments:

One-time runner said...

your endings always tie everything together so nicely

Anonymous said...

We live in a place now where everyone waves at everyone- being new in town, everyone knows who we are- I just wave and am often asked by my kids or husband "Who was that?"- I reply "I have no idea, but wave anyway". It is a small town C