There are times in your life that you look to with great excitement until that day actually arrives and then the reality sets in and you become paralyzed with fear. I remember looking so forward to the day my son turned 16 about a year ago when I was carting him off to the high school for 5:50 AM workouts for water polo. I remember thinking how cool it was when I turned 16 and I rushed out to get my driver’s license and within a few weeks was driving a carpool of two elementary kids to school. But now the time is here and, well, um — sheesh, who on earth decided that it was a good idea to let 16-year-olds get a driver’s license!? And for goodness sake, what was that neighbor lady thinking by letting me, a brand new driver, take her precious cargo with me to school three times a week?!

Honestly, my son is quite responsible and gets excellent grades, but let’s be realistic — he loves hot cars, cute girls and anything involved with going fast. I am reminded of the early Will Smith song, “Parents Just Don’t Understand.” I really didn’t think I was going to be hesitant at all about this adventure into the next stage of my life, but then I got the ghastly news from my insurance broker, tempered with the placating comment of “Well, you know, he is a teenager and he is a boy — and rates are higher for boys.” Okay, was that supposed make to me feel better? NEWSFLASH: it did not.

So now here I sit, telling my son that yes, he is going to have to cover his own gas and insurance. And suddenly he now is having second thoughts about getting his license and I am having thoughts of having to wake up at 4:30 AM for the rest of my life. I am embarking on the long process of trying to find a “new” car for me to drive as I am sure this will all pass and I will be handing over the keys to my already beat up and trashed Honda CRV to my son.

I am going to go with a high gas mileage, safe, get-it-done kind of car — otherwise known as a “sled” according to my son. He was pushing for a “Lambo” for Mom and hoping that I would pass it down to him since I am too “eco-minded” for that kind of consumption and the fact that I couldn’t throw the dog and the ice chest full of Gatorade in the back. I am fairly confident that the U.S. will not wean itself off of fossil fuels by the time our country comes out of this economic calamity, so gas will go from our current $3.89 to $7.00 a gallon before we know it.

Until I have money to build my new garage that will have all the solar panels needed to charge an all-electric car, I am going to have to stick with either a hybrid or a fuel efficient combustion engine to get me, three or four varsity water polo players, and the dog around.