It Matters

It Matters

When I was little I remember every time I left my grandmas house the last thing I saw was her waving. She stood in the doorway of the back door and waved, then went inside to her kitchen window and waved as we drove away. The last thing I always saw was her waving. I don't know if it's a southern thing or what, but I have carried on the tradition. I wave to my family until they're around the corner and out of sight and since being a USO volunteer..I wave to airplanes. I felt silly at first waving to a gigantic aircraft. But I knew the plane had windows and people were looking out. People who weren't going on a vacation. They were soldiers who were leaving their families behind and going into a foreign country. If anyone deserved to be waved to, it was the ones on that plane. So it began..the waving. With each flight I do my best to stay on the tarmac to see the plane off. And of course wave. I encourage anyone standing next to me to wave also. I tell them "not a sissy parade beauty queen wave..wave as if you're on a deserted island!" I have always wondered really if the soldiers on the planes noticed us out there. I knew some did..but I just always wondered still what it was like on the plane when they saw us. I had my question answered by one of the Indiana National Guardsman in an email to me. He had been outside with us on many deploying flights and I'm sure I wondered aloud about the waving. Well, he remembered. He said, "Oh by the way, we can see you waving. The whole plane got quiet and we all just watched you wave. I looked at the faces and wondered about all the things going thru their minds. Some of them even tried to wave back." When I read that email I cried. I cried so hard it surprised me. It was like years of questions and wondering had been answered. A sense of relief came over me because I KNEW something as simple as a wave mattered. It made a difference to those who needed it to. The thought of a deploying soldier looking out the plane window and seeing no one standing there has always been a thought I couldn't bear. The thought of them feeling abandoned was heartbreaking. I will do my very best to make sure that never happens on my watch. I will continue to wave. It's always the simple things we overlook so often. We take them for granted. My grandma passed away about 5 years ago. I'd give anything to see her wave just once more.