How Did One Wave End a Boy's Loneliness?

Mel Robbins is telling the story of a boy named Roman and a neighbor named Wade. Neighbors start showing up at Roman's house. Roman invites Wade to his soccer games, and they come. They also come to his swimming lessons, his open house at school, and his birthday party. Roman keeps waving, Wade keeps coming back, Roman keeps inviting people in, and the neighbors keep showing up. Mel Robbins says Roman is not lonely anymore because he has a posse of adopted grandparents, neighbors who had not known one another.

Nobody did some big, enormous, heroic thing, Mel Robbins says. It all started with a simple wave. Roman, who had been feeling lonely, suddenly had an entire family he had created. His mom said his loneliness was gone. Mel Robbins asks whether Roman was the only person whose life changed, and she says no. By waving, which she calls demonstrating empathy, he showed I see you, I want to say hello, you matter to me. He brought together a dozen neighbors who said they would barely have known one another otherwise. The little boy who needed a community helped create one, and now he has chosen grandparents. Mel Robbins says that is how connection is built: the little moments in front of you, where you show someone you see them, not the big things you sit around waiting to do.