The Crazies

Its not unusual for me to hear at least three languages on the short walk from our house to the park in our neighborhood. Usually its Chinese, Russian, and Hindi, but occasionally I will hear French or Italian. I enjoy listening to the foreign words, especially because they mean I won't have to waste time on idle chit chat, my least favorite past time. A simple nod and an occasional hello and we've said everything we could possibly say to one another.

I've noticed though that the Dunne family has been sort of a bridge between diverse cultures of the Whisman Station community. We have helped to unite cultures and encourage communication.

Because whenever the families at the park see us coming, be they Chinese, Indian or European they've developed a universal symbol for "Watch out, the crazy family is coming." Even the children recognize the symbol and as soon as they see it they drop whatever they are doing and run to the edge of the gate and wait for us to arrive. And for the fun begin.

There is one boy Vincent who normally sits in the sand and cautiously uses his only shovel to fill his only bucket. As soon as he hears Josie and Owen's voices getting closer to the playground, I can see his arms start to wave in the air and he immediately starts crawling furiously to see if its actually them.

When Josie and Owen arrive they always take a minute to wave to their fans. Josie dumps their overflowing bag of sand toys in the middle of everyone. And she and Owen watch proudly as their multicultural playmates come and join them for the united playtions.

Children of all ages, all colors and all shapes and sizes follow Josie and Owen up and down the slide and all around the playground while the other mothers attempt to lure them away from the crazy kids. I've seen mothers take screaming children away from the park and console them in 4 different languages. And Josie and Owen have heard sad goodbyes from children in as many different languages if we happen to leave the park before their friends.

We're the talk of the town, probably of the world by now. Mostly because my child's wild behavior, fearless feats, and crazy ideas are like nothing any mother from any country has ever seen, or allowed, before.