Don’t forget a little wave for neighbors

Published 10:40 pm Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Joe Day of Darrington isn’t suggesting we start fresh traditions in the new year.

He hopes we keep an old tradition alive.

Day is a proponent of the country wave.

As in “Hi, neighbor.”

It’s just a simple thing that can brighten a day, he said. We all need that in hard times.

Day was born in the early 1950s in California. To say his life has been hard is a major understatement.

“Mom left us when I was six months old,” he said. “She left a note in my crib. Dad abandoned me at age three.”

Adopted at 7, he was raised in Lubbock, Texas. After service in the Marine Corps, he traveled around the country for eight years, mostly by motorcycle.

He has four children and three grandsons – Brayden, Curtis Joe and Julian. Day, the publisher of the Whitehorse Community News, has been married to Jesse for 23 years.

A union electrician by trade, Day moved to Mukilteo in 1989 to be close to his work and Puget Sound. In 1991, his family moved to Hillis Road, about 10 miles east of Arlington, off Highway 530.

They also lived on Arlington Heights road before moving to Darrington.

“I like country living, views and open space,” Day said. “We moved to ‘Spirits Rest’ in October 2004. We live at the end of a mile-long dirt road. My kind of ‘gated community,’ with privacy, acreage with streams, views and excellent neighbors.”

In a recent edition of his newspaper, he wrote about the country wave. We met to talk about his neighborly theory.

His father drove a powder-blue Buick LeSabre with a “10-acre, aircraft carrier hood,” Day said. When they cruised through the countryside, they could see ahead for 20 miles.

“Whenever we met an oncoming rig, Dad would raise two or three fingers of his left hand that he always had riding at the top of the steering wheel,” Day said “Even then I noticed that the other driver would always raise his fingers in reply.”

My husband, Chuck, and I learned about the country wave at our camping spot near Concrete. It’s a gated community around a lake. We noticed from day one that everyone waved as they passed one another on dusty driveways.

My friend, Gary Tinder, comes up in the summertime for card games, campfires and barbecues. Gary is the king of the country wave. Everyone who passes our lot gets a wave, and a greeting.

“I want to be neighborly and put a smile on people’s faces,” Gary said. “It’s a fun thing to do.”

When Day rode in the back seat of the Buick, along Texas highways, he asked his dad who he was waving at.

“Oh, I don’t rightly know,” his father said.

His dad explained that his Missouri people got around by walking or in buggies, buckboards or on horseback. Everyone waved and said “Howdy” when they passed.

A friendly wave lets folks know you understand country living and share something in common, he said. When Day moved to Darrington, he remembered his father’s words and started offering the country wave to neighbors.

“It just feels good,” Day said. “Don’t let a piece of country history go the way of the manual typewriter or the buggy whip.”

Columnist Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451, [URL]oharran@heraldnet.com.[/URL]