My husband and I went to lunch at a local Sushi restaurant to celebrate the publication of my book, “The Seven Common Sins of Parenting an Only Child” in Korean. This restaurant is located on a street that used to be frequented by preppy locals, little old blue-haired ladies and students from the tony girls’ school a few blocks away. Then it was discovered by the studios (You can stand in the middle of the street and see the Hollywood sign on a clear day) and almost simultaneously the area became a multi-ethnic melting pot. We were waited on by a cool young Korean fellow who told us that the owner is Korean as well. Since the Koreans and Japanese have a long standing dislike of one another (check out their history of hostilities), this is rather incredible. Even more interesting, our handsome waiter told us that he is an only child, who according to his parents, didn’t turn out very well. I said that he looked pretty good to me. His parents wanted him to be a doctor or a lawyer (like all good Korean and Jewish parents), but he was a rebel child. Instead of going to college he enlisted in the military (just got out) and wants to be a chef…an Italian chef. He wants to buy my book for his parents so that they can figure out where they went wrong. I, however, think that they did something very right since Augustine (prophetic Italian name) is clearly his own person, an adventurer, and a lover of life. He says that he wants to be a starving artist. We told him that as long as cooks for others he will never starve.
