Waving at others

Back in 2003, when I arrived in Oregon, a parishioner of mine took me on the first ride to the Cathedral, 80 miles away from my first parish in John Day. As we were driving, I noticed that he was waving at every car that passed by in the other direction. After some 20 cars went by, I could not hold myself from asking him “How come you know all these people who are passing by.” His response was “I don’t know any of them, but it’s courtesy here to wave at oncoming cars, especially when there isn’t much traffic, and usually these are ranchers, farmers, local people....we always wave at each other.” So I got into the habit myself, waving at people when I’m driving, especially going to my mission churches.

A few months later some friends from New York came to visit me, and they noticed me also waving at everybody. So to explain what I was doing, I thought of a fictitious character, whom I named Bubba. So when they first asked me about my waving, I told them  “Oh that was Bubba, one of my friends in the parish.” Then I thought of continuing the joke, until they caught on to my joke....as each car went by, it was on-going commentary ”That was Bubba’s father.....that was Bubba’s Accountant....that must have been Bubba’s plumber.....and that was Bubba’s pedicurist....and that one was Bubba’s twin sister.....and that guy on the motorcycle was Bubba’s brother–in-law....and that was Bubba’s psychiatrist....and that driver going slow was Bubba's father-in-law.....and that speedy guy was Bubba's mechanic......” And on and on it went.