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  3. Keep the lid on! Most teens are.

Keep the lid on! Most teens are.

A waitress totes some bottles of beer to patrons during a busy evening at a restaurant in China. Major brewers are showing a keen interest in the growing Chinese market. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
A waitress totes some bottles of beer to patrons during a busy evening at a restaurant in China. Major brewers are showing a keen interest in the growing Chinese market. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

Many of us aging baby boomers have a habit of comparing notes about how much they drank and drove in high school and college, and we wonder how we ever survived. In my first job in Fort Lauderdale, we'd buy six packs on Friday afternoons and drink several on our way driving to the party place and then drink some more and at the end of the night drive home snockered.

Is it luck, miracle or destiny that more of us didn't die?

Well, here's some good news from the CDC today. Modern teens aren't as stupid as we are. Here's an excerpt from the press release:

"The percentage of teens in high school (aged 16 and older) who drove when they had been drinking alcohol decreased by 54 percent between 1991 and 2011, according to study released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nine out of 10 high school teens (aged 16 and older) did not drink and drive during 2011."

(S-R archives photo)

Spokesman-Review features writer Rebecca Nappi, along with writer Catherine Johnston of Olympia, Wash., discuss here issues facing aging boomers, seniors and those experiencing serious illness, dying, death and other forms of loss.