It may not be the most, but it’s definitely a Top 10er!

According to http://www.infoplease.com/ the most populated city in the world is Bombay, India with an estimated 11,914,398 people living in it. Sao Paulo, Brazil comes in a close second with a whopping 11,016,703 residents. Next in the list are Shanghai, Moscow, and Seoul which I’m pretty sure are followed by my parents’ house on Sundays! I know what you’re thinking: “Big Mormon Family’—if that was true I might be a little more used to the densely populated home that I grew up in; alas my biological family is far below your everyday Mormon's.

http://www.fairlds.org/[1] states that the average Mormon family has four children and in my family there is only me and my sister. So to compensate for their failure to multiply and replenish the earth, my parents have taken in every stray Mormon in Murrieta.

Typical Sunday activities for a Mormon family include reading scriptures, having a quiet family dinner, taking a leisure drive, or writing a letter to a missionary all of which are interspersed with several naps throughout the day. However, like I said before, my family is anything but average. Our Sunday activities include preparing enough food to feed a small nation and facilitating a plethora of games that extend far past the spirit’s (and my father’s) bedtime.

In all of the commotion surrounding my newfound Sunday experience, I manage to sneak away to my mother’s favorite corner, the computer room, where I can sit in the dark and take a much needed break from it all (if only for a minute). In the darkness, I have a second to ponder the complexities of my family dynamics. My mother, who hates crowds transforms into the ultimate hostess to feed the masses each Sunday. My father, who prior to the sudden population increase, seldom kept his church clothes on long enough to get through the front door, now sits in them and plays the role of the benevolent priesthood leader. My sister, ever longing to hangout with my friends when we were younger has replaced me in the popularity chain and reversed our roles. And as for myself, the formerly extroverted Murrieta socialite now sits in a darkened computer room at peace by himself—a routine I am most likely destined to repeat every Sunday I am home.

In all of my analysis on the over population of the Dowden home, I forgot to mention how proud I am to be a Dowden. I really do have the coolest parents because they accept everyone from Schizophrenics who like to play leapfrog to head cheerleaders who haven’t quite gotten over the glory days into their home and christen them family—which is probably what keeps attracting all these strays. Everyday is a new adventure filled with new people—tiring at times, like every Sunday afternoon, but just as exciting as the other most populated cities in the world. My house may not be the most populated city in the world, but it’s definitely a Top 10er!


[1] http://www.fairlds.org/FAIR_Conferences/2002_Dealing_with_Demographics.html