Bonsai encounter

Tempting things to touch

My soon-to-be 15 year old has a passion for Japanese pop culture.  He's into anime and manga bigly.  We went to San Francisco to visit grandparents over UEA weekend, and my Lovely Wife wanted to take him to Japan Town for some Mom/Son quality time, primarily at the Japan Center Mall.  The way it worked out, I shepherded Ben around the mall while they frequented the most awesome bookstore.

Ben did a high speed depth first search through the entire mall.  Seriously...he went into almost every store (and the fountains).  When he got to the bonsai store, he took a pause like a skier at the top of a breathtakingly beautiful run.  There were pots with water, containers with pebbles, things with wheels and handles, and beautiful miniature trees.

Moment over, he plunged into the store.  I told the proprietor apologetically, "He needs to touch everything."

The gentleman thought for a second and said, "He has learning problem?"

"Yes, he has autism," I said.

He replied, "My son too."

We looked at each other for a few heartbeats, not knowing what to say, but knowing that we probably had a lot in common.  Ben zoomed out of the store, and I followed, throwing a "have a nice day" over my shoulder.

We have encounters like this surprisingly often.  I just thought I'd share this one with y'all.