A wave is an unspoken hello, right? Well, that’s what it is for me anyways. Our kitchen window looks over and into the kitchen window of the condo across from us; their sink, to be exact. So, if I’m at my sink and my neighbors across the way are at theirs, if we look up, we’re kinda looking at each other. I mean we’re not so close as we can see the color of each others eyes but we CAN see a smile. A pretty little lady comes to that window sometime every day. I also see her every evening arm in arm with her sweet husband, slowly walking and talking with little fluffy white Co-Co on the end of the leash. They’re a delight to see, kinda what probably lots of couples hope they’ll be like in their 80’s; walking and talking together, just happy to be. We always smile and wave when our dog-walking paths cross. It was when we began saying “hello” that we realized this sweet couple spoke only Japanese. And so,my thoughtful husband asked their son teach him a short Japanese greeting. One evening as we walked by and exchanged smiles, my guy added, “Konnichiwa”. (It’s a hello/goodbye Japanese greeting, so I’m told). Oh how fun to see those two faces light-up with impressive surprise from that greeting. Now it’s a daily greeting between the four of us. One afternoon while she and I were both at our sinks, we looked up at the same time and well, I decided to wave. A huge smile took over her face, she lifted both hands and happily waved and smiled and waved and smiled some more. It’s become our thing. We look for each other every day at that window. She not only waves, she does a little circle dance while she’s waving and smiling at our everyday unspoken hellos. Sometimes it takes so little to give someone a smile. Konnichiwa everyone!