Friday Cannon Fodder: this and that

I really should start writing down my ideas for CF, Fridays in particular. Midweek, I distinctly remember saying to myself “that would be a perfect discussion topic for Friday’s CF.” And here we are on Friday, and I cannot remember what it was for the life of me.

Fortunately, this morning’s dog walk and trip to Starbucks inspired me. The coffee shop was filled with high school girls from one of the local private schools picking up drinks (emphasis on “drinks” and not “coffee” — the popular choice seemed to be some pink lemonade tea thingy) on the way to school. I may be misremembering, but when I was driving to high school every day, neither me nor my classmates were stopping en route to pick up anything.

Most of them were carpooling to school, three and four to a car. Keeping additional cars off the road is great from an environmental standpoint. I’m all for that aspect. But I highly doubt my parents would have let me carpool to school, likely not as the driver and definitely not as the passenger.

Maybe I just had stricter parents when it came to driving, although my GF confirmed that her parents were the same way. When I was going somewhere, I drove myself. Other than maybe one of my friends, my parents did not trust other teenagers to be safe drivers (probably a good bet).

In Maryland, when you finish your learner’s permit, you get a provisional license. One of the restrictions is that you cannot have non-family member passengers under 18 years old in the car for the first 151 days. My parents extended that restriction well beyond the state-mandated period. They didn’t want friends in the car distracting a rookie driver.

Looking back, I completely understand their caution. Teenagers, generally, do not make the best decisions, even if all of my decisions were excellent ones. I’m also a little bitter that as the first child, I had the tougher road. If I’m remembering correctly, they were much more permissive with my sister (in pretty much everything). It’s probably because they loved her more. I’m kidding, mom and dad — I know you’ll read this at some point. Y’all did great.

In the category of this and that updates from my life (which I’m sure y’all are thrilled to hear about), shout out to my dad — days shy of his 63rd birthday, he hiked the Grand Canyon rim-to-rim in a day yesterday.

A much less impressive piece of the potpourri nuggets from my life, I’m planning on starting my weekend a bit early later today. The GF and I have assembled a smorgasbord of pumpkin beers to taste test. We have our own 4-glass beer flight boards and everything. If I remember, I’ll post pictures in the comments and let y’all know which were good.

How did your parents handle you learning to drive? Those of you who had / have driving age teen, how did you navigate them learning to drive?

Any other random, interesting life updates to share?