I was sitting at the bar local sushi restaurant next to what family of about 5. The young teenage boy sitting next to me and I said "hello" and chatted.
I offered to show him how to use chopsticks.
We ordered different sushi so we talked about that.
Then I told him what I thought was important at his age, that he pick a motto, like my "be prepared" from Boy Scouts or "honesty and kindness" or "stronger smarter kinder" like Sesame Street. Two of my high school friends became multi-millionaires with the motto "be prepared". Also good manners and good penmanship!
I told him I really hated as a teenager constantly being asked by relatives and strangers "what are you going to be when you grow up?" Constantly.
I told him that I thought I wanted to work as a scuba diver for Jacques Cousteau or maybe a park ranger in Yosemite but that I really didn't know until after 4 years of college.
I told him I had made a lot of money and had a lot of fun being a tour bus driver in California and also a limo driver to the super rich and movie stars so it worked out okay eventually.
The other thing I tried to help him with was bullying which was a huge problem back in the 50s and 60s. My dad said to just live with it.
So I told him my mother was my confidante and I could talk to her about anything from mean kids at school to girls to homework to feeling awkward socially and not being able to dance.
At the end of the meal I guess he told his mom all this and she was offended that a stranger would be so honest and caring about her son in casual conversation.
They were regulars at this sushi restaurant, but they have not come back.
So I apologize to the mother, for being honest and caring.
They say "it takes a community".
I guess I am extremely lucky to have had such a wonderful Mother.
