Just Like That

Just like that, Travis got his driving permit. Last week he was fine getting around on his longboard, but now he's completed his 6 hours of driving in a car with an instructor and 2 brake pedals and wants to learn to drive, apparently.

I can tell already he's going to be a safe and confident driver. And his parking isn't too bad either.

Makayla completed an instructor-led driver's training required by California when she was getting her license too but in Texas, I saved some money and trained Matthew myself from start to finish. 

I wouldn't recommend the free driver training option, though, because you have to really ask yourself, is anything ever really free? 

So far, Matt is my only child really interested in owning and driving fast cars. And fast cars cost more than slow cars, so maybe I should have paid the $300 when I had the chance. 

Matt also works for a car company and test drives hundreds of cars every month. Sometimes when he gets to drive fast cars like this Camero, he'll come to drag Travis out of his online school class and drive past their friends' houses just to rev the engine. 

If some other kid drove up and down my quiet street showing off in a muscle car, I'd roll my eyes in disapproval. But why disapprove of this? Look how cool these brothers are in this hotrod. You can't even tell Travis is still wearing pajamas.

Not long after Travis got his permit, Matthew had oral surgery, and just like that got his wisdom teeth removed. I'm standing at Matt's door talking to the nurse about post-op stuff and not pictured is Travis filming the event hoping to record something memorable or at least something for intimidation or protection he can use later. 

Matt was nervous to lose his cognitive skills after anesthesia, but he seemed pretty confident and coherent as soon as we left the clinic.

He asked multiple times if all 4 of his teeth were removed, just like Makayla did when she had her wisdom teeth out. But unlike Makayla, he started singing Queen's, "We Will Rock You" from the back seat. 

Matt doesn't usually break out into song and surprisingly, we were able to understand the tune and mumbling coming from his gauze-filled mouth.

Who knew wisdom teeth emerge as children start to become more "wise" around age 17-25? Interestingly, that's also around the age that children become independent and leave home. Makayla had her wisdom teeth removed and then ...left home. Matt just had his wisdom teeth removed and he's going to be leaving home in the next month or so.

Seems yesterday Travis could hardly walk and now he's driving, his wisdom teeth are forming and once they emerge, he'll leave too... just like that.