Growing up in a middle-class suburb of Cleveland, I hardly considered my family progressive. I learned to drive in our shiny, new 1982 Mercury Grand Marquis. The only thing green about that gas guzzling land yatch was its metallic Jade exterior. But I suppose hybrid cars were still a far off thought for most people at that time (although I will say, I can parallel park just about anywhere now). No, that part of my childhood seemed normal. It was the other habits that struck me as odd…at the time.

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