Sheboygan Falls couple is connecting with kindness and "it doesn't cost you a penny"



SHEBOYGAN FALLS (WITI) -- It's amazing what you can accomplish with the wave of a hand. What a couple in Sheboygan Falls is doing isn't magic, but it is magnetic.

Somewhere along the road less traveled, if you find yourself in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, you may just stumble upon 322 Monroe Street. Where the flag isn't the only thing that waves.

Here, you'll find a couple of "porch potatoes" and you'll be better for meeting them.

"They love it when we wave at 'em," said Ray Schmitt.

Lynn and Ray Schmitt do exactly that, wave! They wave every day, every week, every year.

"It started out about 40 years ago, and I had this fanstasy about, I would wave at a guy, and he would drive around the block and he would stop and ask why I did that, and I would say because I'm a really nice guy, and he would hand me a million bucks.  So I'm still waiting for him to drive by," said Ray.

While he waits, Ray plants himself on the porch in his homemade rocking chair.

The Schmitts moved into their home near the corner of Monroe and Hickory Streets back in 1996. Here, they would raise three boys.

The kids are grown now and have families of their own, one son in Atlanta.

Neither Lynn nor Ray remembers how it all started. But somehow, they decided that everyone who passed their porch would get a wave.

Sure, it's a small gesture...

"It doesn't cost you a penny," said Ray.

But it gives people something money can't buy -- joy.

"You have that big smile and wave, you just perked me up," said Lynn.

In a world where many of us avoid our neighbors, the Schmitt's offer a simple reminder that we're all connected.

"We wave at everybody who goes through. When they wave back at you, it's better," said Lynn.

And when they wave back, somehow the world seems like a smaller, more friendly place.

"Be nice to people, and they'll come back and appreciate it. I guess that's about all it is," said Ray.

Proving that for those who do something out of the ordinary, those who take the road less traveled, a small gesture can make all the difference.

"So when we go in the house and eat, we still have somebody waving," said Lynn.