A Voice of Reason in Suburbia

I found myself fully engulfed in suburbia last night.  After I got home and changed I went out front to play with Gina and the girls.  As I sat down to chalk the sidewalk Gina ran in to get changed for her class and the girls and I continued with our walk way art exhibition. ... which was mostly them asking me to draw cookie monster over and over again.  Shortly there after a lady down the street walked up with her little dog, which the girls loved and which sent Karma in to an apprehensive panic.  Then the neighbor across the street came over with her 3 year old grandson who tried to play dinosaur hunter with our bewildered girls.  Our elderly neighbors then joined the mix with their dog, returning from their nightly evening walk, followed by the pregnant daughter of the neighbor across the street.  It turned in to this swarming mass of bodies and competeing dialogues, oddly reminiscent of a shark feeding frenzy only with pleasant niceties and a distinct lack of fish.  As the trash truck approached where we were standing to get his final pick ups for the day, the conversation grew even louder in an attempt to top the diesel beast.  Suddenly, like a little light in a dark void, a high pitch "thank you' pierced the hubbub.  Everyone stopped and looked down to see Arianna standing there, waving at the trash man and expressing her gratitude for his hard job.  It was a very sweet, genuinely pure moment.  Now, she didn't come to this on her own (I don't want to build it into more than it was) as I usually make them wave and thank the trash man when he goes by.  But none the less it was an unsolicited response from her as I was fully enwrapped in a conversation with the pregnant neighbor about varicose veins and how much they suck (or so I hear).  It made me very proud that in the chaos around her Arianna still remembered that that's what we do.  That's who we are.  We are the people who thank the thankless and appreciate those who do us a service.  God I hope she's able to stay this way for ever.  Minus the incessant nose picking of course.