Car conversations

I love car conversations. As a parent you can learn so much.  Here are two tidbits from the last few weeks, gleaned while transporting  two boys, 16 and 17 years old.

"I wish we had better snacks at home. All we have are chips."
"I know what you mean. Sometimes I walk into the kitchen, look in the cupboards, look in the fridge and think, 'There's nothing here that I can make in less than 2 minutes. I'll just have to starve.'"
"Yeah, who wants to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?"
"Right. It is so much work. You have to get out the bread, get out the peanut butter, get out the jelly, get out a knife."
"Then you have to spread the stuff on the bread, put it together. It takes forever."
"And it's not even worth it!  All that work and all you have is a stupid PBJ."


Here are the comments following a verbal slip I made, running two sentences together.

"Mrs. Himes, that didn't make any sense. You said 'You..Mrs. Fragola and I.'  I didn't understand you."
"No, Sam, there was a period between 'you' and 'Mrs. Fragola.' My mom was saying two separate sentences."
"Oh. Well, Mrs. Himes, you should say your periods better."
"Yeah, Mom. That sounded more like a comma than a period. You didn't really come to a full stop."
"Or maybe a semi-colon.  What good are they anyway?"
"I know! When do you ever need a semi-colon in life?"
"I don't ever use them. Colons, they make sense. But, semi-colons, worthless."

P.S.  My son wants me to note that he called the semicolon a "punctuation abomination."  So noted.