I sit here on my last free day of summer before school starts back watching the rain fall outside of my window. Summer just went by way too fast! I mean, as a teacher, I love my job and all but I could definitely use a couple more weeks of no school. Take me back to the pool days and the road trips. Take me back to the sunshine (although clearly not today…) and the moments when my doors were off my Jeep and the breeze was constant through my hair.

Speaking of Jeeps…does anybody else out there own a jeep wrangler? Not a Jeep Cherokee. Not a Jeep Renegade. Not a Jeep Compass. No, no…a wrangler. Two door or four door doesn’t matter to me—I myself have a two door. Probably because growing up with a dad who had a two door meant that was all I ever wanted in life; to drive a Jeep like Dad. I thought it was the coolest thing that we could take the top off, have no doors, and go muddin’ whenever we wanted! He used to always do this thing too, where any time he passed another Wrangler they’d wave to each other. As a toddler and little girl I didn’t even really notice it but as I got older I finally asked him, “but Dad, why do you do that?” His response you ask?

IT’S A JEEP THING. YOU WOULDN’T UNDERSTAND.

Um excuse me. I’m your daughter. Your riding buddy. You better tell me so I will understand! Just because I can’t drive yet doesn’t mean I can’t be in the know on what’s apparently “Jeep World” secrets. So, then he explained it to me. Anytime one Wrangler passes another, you just wave. It’s just a thing that Wrangler owners do. It’s not anyone in a Jeep vehicle and there’s no real written rule as to why you do it, but it’s just this unspoken understanding that is nation wide. I then started getting older, closer to my sweet sixteen when all I really wanted was a Jeep. My parents, being the actual decent humans that they are, decided that a Wrangler is not safe enough for a first time driver. Bologna! But whatever, they still bought me a car so I obviously wasn’t stupid enough to complain and I ended up loving my Nissan Xterra (which I just found out they don’t make anymore!?) I still had a love for Jeeps but my Xterra made my memories with me: high school sporting events, college, road trips, graduation, moving days…the Xterra was there through it all. Fast forward ten years to Spring of 2016 when I was finishing up my Masters degree and getting ready to move to my new job. I had desperately been researching a new car, figuring out if I could afford to get one and of course at the top of my list was a Jeep Wrangler.

May 7, 2016 I traded my Xterra, worn with memories and love, in for my brand new, black, two door, Jeep Wrangler. Oh, I was ecstatic! I left the dealership parking lot and while driving down the road for the first time, passed another Jeep Wrangler. Without even thinking, I raised my hand from the steering wheel as the other driver did the same. The Jeep Wave. I did it without even thinking. I guess from growing up in Dad’s Jeep so much. And now, it’s simply a habit. It gives you this sense of community. That there’s this knowledge out there for all Wrangler owners and you don’t even really know where or how it started. No one questions it. No one thinks it’s too lame or weird. It’s just what you do. It gives you instant friends and immediate conversation about this vehicle that lives life with you. It goes on all adventures with you and eventually, maybe I’ll have my own car seat in the backseat with my own child asking me why I wave at strangers. I’ll just simply laugh and won’t be able to help myself from saying…

IT’S A JEEP THING. YOU WOULDN’T UNDERSTAND.