We wave in Fancy Farm. We do. It’s a fact of life.
A lot of people wave to each other as they pass by in rural America. Whether you’re meeting on the highway or driving past someone’s home, you wave. No one pays much attention to it. It’s just something you do.
Unless you don’t. Then people wonder why you didn’t wave. It gives you an uneasy feeling if you pass someone and they don’t wave. You wonder if they’re a stranger. You wonder if they’re pre-occupied. If they’re pre-occupied you wonder if you should call them and make sure they’re okay.
Now, not all women wave. We know that they are just too busy to wave. They’ve got their mind on 1800 other things. No one takes offense if they don’t wave.
Men wave all the time. It’s a requirement with them. You wonder what the problem is if they don’t. And if you don’t recognize the car or truck then you have to try to figure out who they are.
Now no one waves franticly. If they did we would really think that something was wrong. Most of the time it’s a quick flick of the hand, or sometimes just a finger. I know when I’m driving along most of the time I’ll just lift my index finger and almost point at the on-coming car. I’ve gotten to where I don’t even pay attention to see if they wave back. It’s enough that I waved in the first place.
When I first moved to the area I got chewed out by the guy that I was with because I didn’t wave at a car that had waved at me. Honestly, I was watching the road. I didn’t notice that they had waved. But he told me I wasn’t being friendly and I needed to wave. That did it. I didn’t want anyone to think that I wasn’t being friendly.
And so we wave. Most of the time it’s out of habit. But we are being friendly to each other, and everyone else who drives our roads.