Always wave

My dad used to love driving around the countryside.

Every Sunday lunch, he would look around the table and ask, “Who wants to go for a ride?”

I think he liked it best when all four of us kids — and sometimes even Mom — agreed to go. 

We had some remarkable adventures exploring woods, streams and other treasures he had discovered on his travels through eastern Indiana and western Ohio. 

As the youngest in the family, I eventually became the sole passenger for many of these drives. Dad and I would go along in silence for long stretches of time, enjoying the long stretches of horizon around us. 

I grew to share Dad’s love for the landscape. 

These days, I drive from Richmond to Winchester and Portland once a week. It almost feels as if my father is in the car with me at times. I thought of him on a recent U.S. 27 run when I twice had to slow down dramatically because of harvest machinery sharing the road.

My dad had the utmost respect for farmers.

He never passed a plow in a field without waving to the person at the wheel. Probably a man, but maybe not. From the road, we couldn’t tell. All we knew was that they were working hard to help provide food for the rest of us.

“Always wave,” Dad said. 

What he was doing with his hand, though, looked to me more like a salute than a wave. 

A recognition of honor.

He would raise his hand to any kind of moving farm vehicle, whether it was right by the road or much too far away for the driver to see the gesture. 

“They can’t see you,” I’d say.

“Doesn’t matter,” he’d respond. “Always wave. Show your respect.”

If I have time, I like to leave the highway and take county roads for my weekly trip. It doesn’t take much longer and is much more relaxing.

I wave to folks I see working in the fields. 

They nearly always wave back. If they don’t, I figure it’s either because they’re distracted by something they’re working on or because my dad’s habit has fallen out of style.

I hope that’s not it, but I suspect it might be.

That recent day when farm vehicles slowed down traffic on 27, the drivers of the cars around me didn’t seem too respectful of the farmers. They zipped around the gigantic pieces of harvest equipment as if the machines were mere inconveniences. 

Well, maybe not mere. Major inconveniences. But those inconveniences are there for a reason.

None of us — including farmers — could survive without the work farmers do.

Of course, farm vehicles take up a lot of space. Of course, they move slowly.

So what? 

Think about it. What they are doing is essential. 

Don’t worry so much about slowing down. 

Take the time to be respectful.

Be thankful for the food that is being produced and the hard work involved.

If you zip along too fast, no one will see you wave.

Always wave.