h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

(You may pick your favourite artist. This one reflects off Meat Loaf from Bat out of Hell III)

Gave C, my daughter, a lift to a nearby station this morning - she was going to be picked up by her driving teacher (yep, you need that here - no cavorting around in the family car with a red 'L' or the like on the back). To go for her driving exam.

On the way from dropping her off, the "all coming back to me now" lyrics made me drop into some "oh, way back then" thinking. Not, as the song implies, about previous loves - an early grey and very autumnish Tuesday morning is not my ideal setting for that, anyway.

No, more along the lines of "wow, how many milestones still was ahead of us then" and "boy, I guess I am a lot more changed in relation to those 18-year old times than I care to think about."

(Not that I did my driver's license until I was, err, 23 or something - no coherent explanation available other than it let me sit and drink beer in my friends' cars a lot more... )

One of my regular credos is that I'm happy to say that there is still some teenager in me. Let's just say that I admitted this morning that I'm not exactly underplaying that bit.

(and by the way, the exam was cancelled - they came across the one examiner that the driving teacher simply cannot accept for her pupils)

Sometimes when I become reflective, I envy the bright young people, just starting out on the grand adventure. Then I remind myself of the circle of life and that I'm where I'm supposed to be, for good or ill, and that it's their turn now.

From years of reading your posts about your children, I know that you've given them a great start, that they are grounded and will do well in life.

Thanks.

And yes, sometime I think for a short illusionary second that I'm a teenager. Then I wake up - nicely or brutally, depends on what I thought I was doing - and realise that thanks Bob, I'm not anymore...

Not sure how I'll find the time to both read and write NaJoPoMos, but I always enjoy reading your thoughts, Santra

I wouldn't want to go back, either.

I am sorry now that I have only been aware of Santragenius on the periphery of my vision - albeit for a very long time.

The problem with watching your kids having their fun and doing their growing up is that you have to make sure you're having a life of your own, and not just living through them. It's particularly difficult for the mother. h2g2 has helped me a lot in this. My Christmas round robins tend to have longer paragraphs about me and shorter ones about the children. Let them write their own round robins!

They can do it when they get a round tuit

Likewise, actually , TC - though I have noticed with a little more of my eyes after the hiatus

Ti. (try to say that fast ) Perhaps unsurprisingly I thought the same 5 min ago when I saw the My Conversations window. I'm intrigued to see where your story goes - completely oblivious (!) to the online games as I am.

I wouldn't want to go back to my teens or even early twenties. Wouldn't mind going back to being 40, the year the old ticker gave up and be able to pre-empt it and reduce the damage if not preventing it altogether.

I never learnt to drive. I do so like being driven. Such a princess.

I too am feeling old and melancholy. It comes of spending the entire day every day every week watching 18-year-old students frolick in the Autumn leaves, giggling, in very tight jeans.

But then, I HATED being 18. HATED it. And I totally frolicked and giggled in tight jeans WHILE I was hating it. This should lead onto a deep and important point, no doubt, but I ain't got one.

Oh come on Ag, you can't possibly leave us all wondering and hanging in the air over all that agony, surely?

Aaah, the Angst of teenage years...

when I had my driving test (I was 21 at the time and it was not long before they changed the rules in the UK to add a theory test as well as the practical assessment of driving skills), I managed to pass first time and afterwards I was told by my instructor that he had taught my examiner to drive quite some time ago.