The girl waved to the train driver every day. 3 years later, something amazing happened!

The saying, “We don’t value what we have until we lose it,” can be applied to many things in life. For some train conductors in Tulsa, Oklahoma, it was their friendship with a little girl named Rio, who waved to them every day from the window of a building next to the railroad tracks.

Three years after the start of this unusual friendship, train conductors noticed that Rio stopped appearing at the window. There was a note taped to the window that broke their hearts. Briana Hefley Shepard posted a touching story on her Facebook page:

“My family’s business moved to a new location about three years ago. The store was located right next to the railroad tracks, which meant that everything that happened with the locomotives was perfectly visible from the window.

“Rio liked it. The guides noticed Rio waving to them from the window and began to wave back. Over time, this became their ritual: they would sound the horn, she would run to the window, they would open the windows, wave to each other, and smile. Tears came to my eyes every time I saw it.

“Then, a few weeks ago, Rio went to school. Having her start going to school was harder than I expected. But it was even more difficult for me on that first day when the train arrived and she was not at home. They sounded the horn and opened their windows, but I was the only one who could answer them. I stood in the window, cried, and weakly waved my hand at them.

“The next day, I wrote a note. I simply wrote: ‘She went to school.’ I heard a beep, ran to the window, and picked up the note. This was three weeks ago. Oh, how I cried.

“This morning, a few minutes after the store opened, someone knocked on the door. It was a man wearing a bright yellow shirt with earplugs hanging around his neck. I thought it was a construction foreman who had come to talk about the repairs we wanted to do in the store. I was wrong.

“This man came in to ask about the little girl with blond hair who was waving at the trains. He was one of the guides, and they all wondered what happened to her. That day, the train was small. They stopped it in front of the store, and he decided to go into the building.

“The guides assumed that she had started going to school but wanted to make sure. He said her attention always lifted their spirits. For three years, they waited every day for this moment. They missed her and wanted to do something for her. He asked if they could give her anything.

“I replied that, of course, they could give her a gift for her birthday, which would be in a few weeks.

“This unusual friendship, which lasted several years, was something incredible. Knowing that this affected them as much as it affected us fills me with love and hope. Today’s visit and their kindness towards Rio confirmed my belief in kindness and humanity. I will never forget this day.”