Went to a house warming party for my cuz, Alex, on Saturday. Alex is a single dude. Bachelor pad, yo. Nice place.
I had to bring my kids. No one else brought kids. Just me. And my husband didn’t go.
Sucked for a minute.
But LO AND BEHOLD the Mexican neighbors were having a birthday party for their 5 year old. They had a JUMPING CASTLE!
My kids were like, “Mama! WEEEEEE wanna jump on that pretty sweet jumping castle!”
I was like, “We don’t KNOW those people! We can’t just go over there and ask to play on their toy!”
My Aunt Veronica overheard. (Alex’s mom. She’s gorge and a super smart micro biology major.)
“Yes. We can. Let’s go.”
So I was like, “Um. Yes. We can. Let’s go.”
We went.
It was a Mexican family. The house was full of Mexicans of all shapes and sizes.
My Aunt just straight-up knocked on the door and said it like it was. (In Spanish, of course..) “My niece’s kids want to jump on your BRINCA BRINCA. Is that Ok?”
We were immediately met with warm smiles and hot dogs and alcoholic beverages.
My Aunt Veronica said, “Oh. Thank you, but I don’t drink. I’m crazy enough as it is…”.
Ha! That is EXACTLY what I say when I’m offered alcohol! Wild (and true)!!! ( I had not previously realized we had that in common.)
So my kids jumped and Vero and I sat and ate delicious, grilled hotdogs and chatted. We chatted with each other and the lil birthday boy and all the women in the vicinity.
Then the power went out without warning and the jumping castle began to deflate at warp speed with the children still having a grand experience within. There were shrieks of both delight and terror as the castle went down.
Men were jumping over tables and holding onto their cowboy hats for dear life… “LOS NINOS!” They were like, SAAAAAAVE THE CHILDREN!
Once my own kids were safely outside the Brinca Brinca of Death I had a giggle fit as I watched men and women diving into the deflated edifice to rescue their little ones. I shouldn’t laugh. It’s not funny. But everyone made it out alive so…. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Fun was over.
Back to Alex’s house we went. (Not that Alex’s place wasn’t a blast… Thanks for the invite, cuz:)
I relayed the story to my full-blooded Mexican cousin, Rosa Maria She is absolutely stunning and had just THAT DAY acquired her Master’s Degree from the U of A.
She said, “You are SO MEXICAN! I try not to perpetuate stereotypes but THAT was MEXICAN!”
Her sister was like, *gasp* *laugh* “That is so racist!”.
I said, “Some stereotypes exist for a reason…”.
Then we all busted a gut regarding the deflation of a nation and men hurdling tables.
So are we right? I’ve been called racist before. I’m not scuuured a you. Just tell me what you think.
Do WHITE people do these things?
See, I’m all confused because the WHITE side of me is all like, “OMG! I would sooo never knock on somebody’s door and BEG to use their stuff! HOW RUDE! I mean, have some CLASS!”
But the Mexican side of me believes children are children and sharing is caring. ? Huh? I guess I just know that Mexicans accept all children as their own. It takes a village…. Ya know? Mexicans will generally give you the shirts off their backs and the wienies on their grills.
Make sense of the following for me, would ya? Then tell me what you think.
Like for instance, say you’re WHITE and there is a birthday party next door with a super sweet jumping castle. And say you don’t know the neighbors from ADAM because they are not even YOUR neighbors! And say your kids REALLY REALLY REALLY want to play on that stinkin’, rubber eyesore…
Would you knock on the door? Invite YOURSELF in and THEN eat their FOOD? (So as not to be rude, of course?)
Or for instance, let’s pretend you’re WHITE again.
What if a hoard of brown-ish kids and two brown-ish women come a-knockin’ at your door when you are celebrating your child’s 5th birthday? I’m sure you’d let them in, of course. BUT would you exchange glances with others as if to say, “THESE BROWN PEOPLE JUST INVITED THEMSELVES! ”
And If you offer hotdogs out of courtesy would you then think, “Wow. Have these people NO SHAME?” as you watch them devour the little wieners?
I’m just wonderin’… I’m always wonderin’ SOMETHIN’. So… set me straight. AND BE HONEST! Call me racist, if you must, but say it LIKE IT IS! I can take it.
I suppose what I’m alluding to is IF you are indeed WHITE, and you would have NO PROBLEM crashing someone else’s jumping castle… and IF you would also find no social ill in sharing your Brinca Brinca with random brown people THEN you are SOOOO MEXICAN!
