Sunday, September 17, 2006

Our Claim to Fame

Since our family has been waving signs, we have begun to realize some local recognition. We went to a rummage sale and a woman pointed at us and gave an I-recognize-you-from-somewhere look. She exclaimed, "You're the sign wavers!" And Katie remembered that this was a woman who kept mouthing comments to us as she drove by, and we couldn't decipher them, not being speed lip-readers. We found out from her that she was saying, "You're still out here?" The likelihood was that she'd seen us in the two hour morning stint, and then again in the evening--we're supposed to cover rush-hour traffic.
Yesterday, we went to a wedding. The mother of the bride (whom I had never met face-to-face, at least without a car window between) pointed at me (at the reception, not the wedding--whew!) and said, "You're--you're--" I thought maybe we knew her from a previous church. I mentioned the church we'd attended six years previous to this one. It didn't score a reaction. "You're one of those I see holding signs!" Oh yes. "Is it your daughter who waves them with you?" Yes, it was. She was so enthused, she brought me over to her younger daughter, who had also waved enthusiastically as they'd go by. She looked confused until she deciphered what her mom was telling her; then she recognized us.
Various friends of ours have also passed by and waved or honked, and we hear about it when we see them again. It's as close as I'll ever get to celebrity status...reminds me of when I used to work in a neighborhood produce store, and whether I was around our home town of Raleigh Hills, or in Victoria, or in California, people would recognize me and say, "Don't I know you from somewhere?"
It is a funny business. You hold a political sign, and you'll get a response of some sort from most passers-by. If we had no signs and waved at everyone who drove past us, they'd think we were nuts. As it is, it's perfectly acceptable in society to do what we're doing (gauging from the response of passers-by, at least). Logically speaking, I would think the opposite should be true. Without such motive to gain attention for political gain, waving at passers-by would be a sweeter and purer act, though unusual. Seems that people ought to be more skeptical of the person who waves for the sake of an election or a business rather than to be simply friendly, but I'm sure that doesn't hold as things work out.
Anyway, it seems that if we did this often enough for whatever reason around the community (with a sign of course), that pretty soon we could run for some local office and have our faces on billboards and by mere face recognition, we might get elected. It's fine work for a short season and thankfully almost all the response of drivers is positive and friendly, but I don't think I like holding signs at the side of the road quite that much.

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