Driving down the road this morning I noticed something I take for granted and don't think anything about: the yellow lines in the middle of the road. The most major purpose of them is to make sure you're on your side and the traffic whizzing by in the other direction is keeping to theirs. As important as these yellow lines are, we drive by them every day without giving them much thought.
The yellow lines have another purpose too, they indicate if it's safe to pass. When I was a young child, far too young to drive, I remember asking my parents on a long trip what the yellow lines meant. My father explained that dashed lines on your side indicate it's okay to pass the car in front of you. You were given permission to go on the opposite side of the toad to get around slow-moving traffic When the line was solid on your side, it indicated there wasn't enough visibility or distance to safely pass. How cool is that? Special coded messages to the driver, with lots of math and calculations to determine when the lines were solid and when they were dashed.
I believe I drove my parents a bit batty for the remainder of the drive calling out, "it's okay to pass now." Or, "they can pass on the other side now." And when there was a car in front of us and we had the yellow dashed lines, I failed to understand why we wouldn't exercising our right to pass.and I'd ask why we weren't passing. Eventually I'm sure I was told to can it.
As I was driving to get my son's hair cut this morning it struck me that we see a lot less of the yellow dashed lines now than we did decades ago. Highways have been added and streets expanded to contain multiple lanes so that passing across the middle line isn't allowed. I wonder if my children will ever wonder what the yellow lines mean in the middle of the road?
The Big Boy Update: Haircut. His hair grows so fast. It was only five weeks ago that I got it cut but yesterday it had gotten to a level of shaggy that said, "cut me." His hair doesn't get cut that much, but without that clean-up trim he looks like Raggedy Baby.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Stomach strong. She's doing well sitting up in many situations. She eventually falls over, but she's holding up for longer periods. She can lean way over to one side or the other when she's in the Bumbo seat and pull herself right back up. She has been working her abs trying to get at things she's not suppose to get to, like the container of baby food or yogurt that she grabs and almost spills before you can react.
Right-size Countdown: 1.0 pounds to go.
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