The World We Live In

12-03-08 Part III

So the annual trip to the great white north has come and gone. The trip was both uneventful and illustrative of the times we live in. As we were on our way to the border crossing between Port Huron Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario the news on Mumbai was breaking. As a result of that tragedy our crossing of the border into Canada was a challenge. Little details that in the past would never have mattered were questioned and double checked. The border guard was much more aggressive in directing the flow of the questioning than I have ever seen out of Canadian border agent. Me I got chewed out because I had not signed my passport.

Even with the 9th degree interrogation I really didn’t have a problem with it. Being a student of both the U.S. and the Canadian constitutions I am fully aware of the diminished expectation of privacy and the minimal level of rights at the border. Who knows what is in that crumpled up cigarette pack on the dashboard? Had I known about full scope of the dire situation of the Mumbai hostages I would even have been better prepared to face the challenge at the border.

Primus surprised me on this trip. There are times when I just don’t know what motivates his behavior. While he will eat fruit, he despises strongly concentrated scents. As a result he will eat an apple but not an apple flavored Jolly Rancher. Thus it came as a surprise to me when we were at a restaurant specializing in highly spiced foods when he opted for the goat curry. Despite the highly aromatic Indian spices he without hesitation tore into it with gusto. I tried some of it and it was better than jut okay. It was kind of like lamb in flavor. Still for such a picky eater to just decide to go for the goat, well like I said it left me wondering. ASD has levels and degrees of function and impact. Still, the willingness to try new food is a good thing.
The other brother, Secundus left me wondering too. While we were in an art gallery Primus was walking from picture to picture taking it all in. One of things about ASD is they are very visual learners. Graphic art really attracts the boy. As Primus was wandering about Secundus had found a stack of Toronto Life magazines. Apparently one of the creative staff there had done some artwork for this issue and thus the complimentary copies. As the rest of us perused the gallery’s offerings Secundus sat and read. When a number of minutes had passed I went over to check on what he was reading. Oh yeah, I really needed to see that he was 90% of his way through a story about the first honor killing in Toronto. He was irate and indicated that it was an outrage that this could have happened. Yeah left to his own devices Secundus is like a laser guided missile seeking out challenging materials. The thing is that he got it. He spent the rest of the day riffing on why we let antiquated ideas of religion limit our lives as opposed to love and understanding.

Yeah, nobody told me it would be like this. Nobody.