Oh, wow! When I was 12-13, I was giving the Air Force serious consideration, because I wanted to be an astronaut and saw that as the best route. But I also knew I had a serious problem with following orders when I didn't respect the person giving them, especially if the orders seemed pointless or worse. So I couldn't really picture myself fitting into the military. I'm shocked your parents held you back from flying lessons! I'm sure mine would have agreed to it-- we were lucky enoug to have my grandparents treat us to a small plane flight over the Grand Canyon back when those were legal.

I remember when I was quite young, my mother told me Lousiana (I think) had just got rid of a law against one of those weird sexist holdovers-- it had to do with widow's inheritance being below the children's in precedence, I think.