Woman Photographs Parents Waving Goodbye for 27 Years

For 27 years, photographer Deanna Dikeman turned a simple family goodbye into one of the most touching photo series you'll ever see. Every time she left her parents' home, she snapped a picture of them waving from the driveway.

What started as a casual snapshot in 1991 became something much deeper. Dikeman continued the tradition with each visit, never planning to create an art series but simply coping with the sadness of leaving.

"It gradually turned into our goodbye ritual and became a story about family, aging, and the sorrow of saying goodbye," Dikeman wrote on her website. The photographs show her parents in the same spot, year after year, their faces full of love.

In 2009, everything changed. Her father passed away just after his 91st birthday, and suddenly only her mother appeared in the frames. Her mother's face grew more forlorn with each departure, the grief visible in every wave.

Her mother continued the tradition until 2017, when she moved to assisted living. For a few months, Dikeman photographed goodbyes from her apartment door instead. When her mother passed away that October, Dikeman took one final photograph of the empty driveway.

"For the first time in my life, no one was waving back at me," she said.

Why This Inspires

Dikeman's series reminds us that ordinary moments become extraordinary when we pay attention. Looking back at the photographs, she can see the love in her parents' eyes, their gazes telling her exactly what she meant to them.

The response has been overwhelming. Her series "Leaving and Waving" has been exhibited in 16 countries, including recent shows in Paris and Mexico City. The New Yorker named it one of their top 25 stories of 2020, and Dikeman received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2023.

People everywhere have connected with the bittersweet beauty of her work. One commenter shared that she and her husband wave to their kids and grandkids from their doorway, vowing to cherish every moment. Another wished she had documented her mother's daily goodbye kisses over 33 years.

Dikeman's message is clear: the photographs show the world what her parents meant to her, one wave at a time.