Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Oh the Joys of Parenthood...

...come at you like a speeding locomotive! What is mean is holy cow, where has all the time went, and how can my two little darlings be so grown up already as to both be driving, and legally at that. My daughter, of course, has been driving for years, she is about to turn 23. The thing is though, she just bought her first car, a new one at that, a Honda Fit. She picked it up yesterday, and I saw it tonight when I got home from work. She went out and bought her own car with help from her beau, got her own insurance (yippee), and will now commence joining the world of the indebted like the rest of us grownups! Did I just write grownup. I guess she is, wow. She is a good girl, or should I say young woman, with a part time job, a new car, her own insurance, and who is going to school for her Master's Degree in education. If I was into baseball I would say that is a grandslam for mama and papa, but let me just say it like this - we hit the bull's eye.

On the other hand, my son, who is about to turn 18, just got his driver's license. He took his road test on my birthday (I just happened to take the day off from work). His driving tester was a young lady, hair pulled back tight in a pony tail, reflective sun glasses, quite pretty with quite the figure despite a stern look about her. When I said good morning to her as she approached, all she said was: "Are you the father, let me see your license". I was really taken aback by her apparent crassness. Brendan was second in line to take the road test. The other tester, who took out the first guy, seemed nice, well mannered and friendly. As Brendan took off, I was worried. When they got back he pulled into the curb at about a 20 degree angle, and stopped abruptly. I was more worried. She got out, and as she passed me I asked the tester how he did. She kind of smirked, I kind of grimaced, and she said: "Very Good", and that was it, she just walked by to the next person on line. Worried about how he had pulled in, I asked him if he had passed the test. He smiled and said "yeah Man" or something like that, puffed up and said something about being legal now, and I again kind of grimaced. I asked if he messed up on anything and he said she did not tell him anything, except that he should just pull into the curb and let her out. She had even told him not to straighten it out. Again I was worried. I asked how many points she took off of his test results. Brendan handed me his test results, with a big zero in the points deducted area! He passed with flying colors having gotten 100% on his road test. I guess I had noting to worry about, or to grimace about. Well let me just say with regard to the test. Now I have another one out there on the roadways, and only time will tell if that will cause me to grimace. I hope not, and I think not, he seems to have learned well.

Man where did all the time go since they were little rug rats? I must be getting old.

All the best,
Glenn B

2 comments:

Pen of Jen said...

Hats off to the parents! I look forward to the day when my kids pay their own insurance *sigh*!

Great job to Brendan!

And neat birthday present to you!
Jennifer

Subvet said...

Ain't nobody getting young!

And I'd rather have a four-star flaming asshole with the personality of a bent trashcan grading my kid on his driving than Miss Mary Sunshine. At least you're fairly sure she didn't cut him undue slack!

Congrats on raising two fine citizens, I'm sure the fruit isn't falling far from the tree.