Thoughts of a Common Man

I don’t know how to turn the photo around! Yet, it’s a great photo - my Mom’s and Dad’s wedding photo. They were so young! And man, I can see my siblings and my nieces and nephews in their faces. And it’s amazing to see Grandma and Grandpa and my cousins as children. And today is Easter and of course there are thoughts of family and God and love and, well, you know… …Happiness. I showed Mom the photo and she loved it, of course. “Life goes by so fast,” she said. Indeed. The photo is 64 years old. So much happened because of the union between those two pretty amazing people. The story of a life. And so much comes back to you when you see such a photo. I thought of being a child and running around the neighborhood. I recalled moments when me and Dad were alone on the road for work. The dinners. The talks. The laughs. I’m hoping that my boys can look back… …years and years from now… …and smile as I did today when I saw the photo. Happy Easter! Make those memories.

Man, it’s been wild. The NCAA games have played non-stop here at Camp Clifford and believe it or not, I’m still in the running with a bracket. That may change tonight as I need Illinois to beat UConn. Yet, we were switching from one channel to the other. Kathy and Sam enjoy making 8-leg parlays and betting $3. “If it hits I win $600.” “Problem being you have to get 8 things right and 6 of them have no chance.” That doesn’t stop them from reading their bets to me. “Sabres are winning,” Jake texted me. Meanwhile, I was watching the Yankees game closely on my phone. “Stanton just demolished a ball,” I answered. Camp Clifford was buzzing! “It’s midnight,” Kathy said, as the Duke game wound down. “You’re going to pay for your partying.” And I did… …because Miller the cat had slept through all the excitement and was wondering.. …at six this morning…. …why the hell I wasn’t awake. “Get out!” I yelled. “There were games on!”

“Is this the bottom?” I texted a few friends, after hearing that Greenwood-Trump have formed a partnership to sell the God Bless the USA Bible for $60 a pop. Then I watched the ad - the orange dude in a wig saying: “It’s my favorite book!” And despite  buddy saying that there is no bottom… …I laughed. He owes more than a half a billion dollars for fraud and sexual assault. Three wives. A porn star hush money settlement. Seven bankruptcies. An insurrection. All that on his resume and he thinks: “I know! I can sell the Bible!” And of course, he will sell some… …to people who swear that God sent him to save us… …so he got his signature ready! Signed right there near the publisher’s info!!! Now, I’ve signed a lot of books that I’ve written… …truth be told, I always felt a little uncomfortable. I don’t know if I should sign my name or add a note. Takes a little bit of ego to think someone wants your signature. I’m thinking he’s okay with it. “Grab ‘em by the….” “Love, Donald.” Ridiculous. A

If you go back through my blogs I’ve chosen the Yankees to win #28 each and every year since they won #27. Juan Soto! They now have 2 of the best 4 hitters in the game. Stanton looks healthy and strong. Rizzo is down being dizzy. Gleyber is steady. But let’s see how it breaks down: In the National League the division winners will be: Braves Dodgers Cubs The wild card teams will be: Phillies, Diamondbacks and Padres. The NL pennant winner will be: Philadelphia! Ohtani is in some trouble. The Phillies are stacked. The Braves always lose in the playoffs. In the American League the division winners will be: New York Minnesota Seattle The wild cards will be: Houston, Texas and Baltimore. The AL champs? Take a wild guess! Who is writing the blog??? I have Yankees over the hapless Phillies in 6 in the World Series. Just like last time when they put up #27.

So sad. Obviously for the poor people who lost their lives when a ship hit the bridge support. Also, for the fine people of Baltimore as that bridge was a thing of beauty. I lived in Baltimore for about a year back in the early 90’s, and I came very close to staying there. I loved everything about that summer… …I lived in an apartment complex with about 50 other 20-something friends. I went to about 40 Orioles games (last year at Memorial Stadium), and I played so much tennis that I couldn’t lift my arm for about three months. I also visited with my cousins, and spent a lot of time with Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Lenny. Glorious. It was also the summer when I went on two boat rides in that very same body of water where the bridge collapsed. I was on a boat with Gilligan, the Professor and Mary Ann - we anchored under the Francis Scott Key Bridge for the autograph session. (That’s a whole ‘nother story that will be in the next book). I also was in a small boat, not far from the bridge when

Sometimes Easter kinda’ sneaks up on me. “When is Easter?” I asked Kathy. “I don’t know.” And that’s kind of sad to me because all of early life was centered around church and prayer and stations of the cross. We took the boys to church through the years, of course, and we remain committed to faith, but the physical act of going into the building for a weekly mass is sporadic at best. Which is amazing because for decades I was an absolute mess if I didn’t make it to church. Where did it all fall apart? It was a movie that did me in - the Catholic Church’s lies and deceit was exposed in the movie with Michael Keaton and the Boston Globe. I was pretty ill when we finished up that movie and it stuck with me… …and not in a good way. I can remember saying: “They will never get another dime from me.” And I truly miss it. I enjoyed the community aspect of attending Mass each week. I knew where all my buddies sat with their family. I would jump up and serve Mass as a teenager. Yet there weren’

As we lead up to the November election - an election that is preposterous because one of the candidates may be in prison - we hear all about one issue more than another. The border. Back a couple of months ago there was a proposal on the table that would certainly not fix it - but would be an attempt at helping.  A start. The bill was dead on arrival because the House didn’t want to give the candidate who doesn’t belong in prison, a win. The border fight is a confusing, complicated issue. It’s a scar that continues to grow. Like the mass shooting problem. Therefore, I don’t think about it much because it’s an issue that there is zero effort to truly fix it.  It’s a political football, as are guns. Reasonable people know that there are things that can be done…to repair both issues. Unreasonable people want to ignore all possible solutions so that they can use it for fear to sell their agenda. Democrats don’t want open borders. Republicans don’t want to keep them all out - the people com

Kate Middleton has cancer. I know that because she was hounded by the press because as a member of the royal family she owes the world an explanation, I guess. I’m not a Royal family fanatic - I think it’s a weird costume party type of existence, but society over there hasn’t learned much. Princess Di was killed when the car she was in was chased by paparazzi. Kate Middleton was out of the spotlight and people went crazy speculating about what was going on, so they put out a photo of her with her kids. The photo was a doctored picture. That made it all so much worse, so Kate appeared on television and explained that she was diagnosed with cancer and has undergone treatment. Know what everyone focused on? That her husband wasn’t beside her when she made the video. Good Lord! Leave them alone! The poor woman has cancer and is scared. She has a young family, and I’m sure that how she looks or sounds in the media is the furthest thing from her mind. Yet, if someone were to ask me what went

Well, it appears that something weird is going on with the $700 million man. Shohei Ohtani made a little news this off-season when he signed a contract with the Dodgers. It was a love fest that continued through the opening series when Ohtani got a couple of hits to open the season. And then a huge story. Ohtani’s translator was fired by the Dodgers and the story was framed that he stole $4 million from his good friend to pay off gambling debts. But hold on… …more news followed stating that Ohtani paid off the debt. ‘Cause he loved the guy? Or because he was making the bets? This is going to be a huge story. Will MLB dig deep and possibly discipline the face of baseball? Can the Dodgers void that contract? No matter what, it’s a sad story and sort of a reflection of what sports has turned into. There are bets on every damn thing now. You can bet on the favorite if they fall behind. You can pull the bet at anytime. It’s all just a click away… …and when you have $700 million losing $4 mi

I usually fill out three brackets for the tourney - been entering the same company competition for about 30 years now. Kentucky was my winner in the first bracket I filled out. They didn’t make it past the first game… …which brought me a few ball-busting texts and some snide comments. “That’s why I fill out 3 of them.” And I have no illusions - all three will probably be cooked by Monday. Yet, it was great fun. Sam definitely took advantage of his day off and a floor of the house where he could entertain his buddies as they watched 3 televisions. “Yo, I found a bag of Chinese food in your room,” I mentioned. “We ate most of it,” he said. I handed him the bag, and we spent a couple of minutes clearing his beer cans. “How’d Kentucky do for you?” He asked. And it brought me back in time through all the years of March Madness. I won the bracket challenge twice and watching the championship games those years goes down as two of the most stressful evenings of my life. We used to pick all the

By Wednesday night there were three television sets in the basement area so Sam and his buddy could watch 3 different games… …and we are only at the play-in stage. Tomorrow the college basketball games start at noon and will run until midnight. “You going to be here at noon?” Sam asked. “I have to work,” I said. “Lame!” Sam normally has Tuesday and Wednesday off each week - he made a few trades with his shifts so that he will be around for as many games as possible. He couldn’t be any more fired up. “Is this your favorite week of the year?” I asked. “It’s not even close,” he said. “Every other week of the year is FOR this week.” And the brackets are flying around. He printed 50 copies and has been filling them out for fun. “There’s something wrong with you,” I mentioned. Yet, I have lived with this sort of excitement every March for decades as Sam’s craziness is much the same as my brother Jeff’s was. Jeff also filled out brackets just for fun. So, Camp Clifford will be hopping this we

Trevor Bauer is a former major league pitcher who doesn’t have a contract to pitch anywhere. In fact, his last contract - which was humongous - was voided by the Dodgers because of some truly ugly, awful, horrific accusations by a woman who claimed he beat her. More accusations surfaced by more women. MLB investigated.  The court cases dragged out and eventually there were resolutions of sorts. Bauer was suspended from the sport - longest suspension ever - for such a charge. His contract was terminated and last year he pitched overseas. A whole bunch of people are now taking up the cause to get him back to the league. Bauer let all 30 teams know that he’d pitch for the league minimum. So far, despite the fact that no team has enough pitching, there haven’t been any takers. I have no stomach for the people who are campaigning for Bauer. The Yankees could certainly use a starter and Bauer was definitely a better than good one… …but I don’t want to root for him to do well. Now, some might

It was a little hard to get all baseball excited on Monday. The skies over Buffalo were grey and the temperature was in the 30’s all day. Meanwhile opening day is 10 days away, and like every other spring day I check in on the Yankees to make sure no one is being carted off. And there was Joe Torre… …the Yankees manager from back in the mid-90’s thru 2005.  Joe is now 83 years old. Still, his shuffle to the mound is still intact, and it made me smile. ‘Mr. T’ as Jeter called him was the perfect manager for that group of talented players, and my Dad absolutely loved him because he is an Italian man. And man, those were the days… …the Yankees appeared in 6 World Series, winning 4 of them in 7 years. I remember going into a convenient store in 2000 and the clerk asked me why I was smiling. “The Yankees won the World Series last night,” I said. “Doesn’t that happen every year?” She asked. No, sadly, it doesn’t. There’s been a long wait for twenty-eight, but I’m not here to complain… …they’

“Monday when the foreman calls time, I already got Friday on my mind.” I think of that Bruce quote every now and again and some work weeks are harder than others. I particularly enjoy the peacefulness of Saturday afternoons after some of the household chores are done. How do you spend your free time? 1). Catch with Ollie with the first coffee in my hands. 2). Headed to the grocery store and grabbed what we needed and planned out dinner. 3). Wrote a few pages. 4). Ollie - second round. 5). The house was being cleaned by our very competent cleaning lady. 6). Got dinner prep work done and put away the groceries and then checked in on the Sabres (lost) and the Yankees spring training (a win). 7). The boys gathered for the St. Bonaventure basketball game. We laughed a lot as we watched, 8). Ollie for. 3rd time at the half. 9). Laundry in. 10). Cooked and ate dinner. Relaxing. Fairly restful.  All I need… …and then I went to social media… “If I don’t win the election there’s going to be a bl

Happy Birthday to my beautiful wife - the last of her birthdays in the 50’s. Which is pretty insane! We were talking about Jake and a new job and I mentioned being in Baltimore for a project when I was about Jake’s age. I mentioned my boss back then and Kathy said: “Yeah. I knew him.” So, we’re talking about a lot of time having passed and the craziest part is that we knew each other before our 20’s ended! So, just another birthday, right? Of course not! We’ve battled through a whole bunch of things that life threw at us, and we’re still hanging tough. It’s funny but we were watching a movie the other day and the wife told the husband, “If you can find someone who might want you, go for it.” I laughed. “That’s your line,” I said. “Not anymore,” she said. “You’re stuck with me.” That’s fine with me.  We’ve certainly had to adapt and change and put up with hearing the same old stories… …anywhoha…. …Happy Birthday! At least March Madness didn’t start yet… …we may even look in your directi

The big local news is that an 11-feet alligator was removed from a Hamburg home. Albert the alligator is over thirty years old, and he lives in a swimming pool. The people of the neighborhood are in a bit of an uproar because Albert was removed by the D.E.C. My initial reaction was: “Let the man keep the gator - the animal has not known any other life.” But I read a little bit more on the subject, including the reasoning of one of the D.E.C. officials who was in on the repossession. According to the report: Albert was obese as well as malnourished. Albert was not getting nearly enough sun and was living in an area that wasn’t up to code. Also, Albert was swimming with elderly people and children. It’s a reptile! What would happen to Albert if he suddenly went reptilian and devoured a child? Albert’s owner isn’t a trained caretaker, to the extent of where he should allow others to swim along side, Albert, right? To be fair, I also read the response from the owner. He was ranting a bit a

Since my son, Sam, was just 4-years old, he’s been obsessed with the Villanova Wildcats college basketball team. When Villanova is playing, we ALL know it, and two of the best days were when they won the title. They played on Wednesday night at 9:00, and it was supposed to be an easy game. I wasn’t watching. At around 10:00 though I heard Sam say, “Down by 8 with 12 minutes left.” Uh-oh. Still, I drifted off to sleep and was in that weird spot of being half-asleep and half-awake… …and I had a very vivid dream. My buddy Pops was seated at the kitchen table at my parent’s house. He had sausage, potatoes and eggs on his plate. My Dad called out to me: “What’re you eating?” “Same as Pops,” I said. And there was my Dad. I saw him clearly! Standing at the griddle, spatula in his hand, cigarette hanging from his mouth. Dark skin.  He looked so alive… …and Sam’s voice cut through the dream and stirred me back to the world. “Down 2 with 17 seconds,” he said. I was downhearted! ‘Nova pulled out

Zoom calls are sort of like group texts to me. There are just way too many people involved and I’m not sure if anyone gets anything out of them. I know I don’t. I listened to a long regional meeting on zoom the other day. One of the first speakers spoke about how important it is to work together and he said: “Teamwork makes the dream work.” I almost hung up! Nothing drives me crazier than nothing-speak and I heard a few more: “Think outside the box.” “Run it up the flag pole.” Then there is the long-winded appreciation for the person who worked so hard to set up the call… …and a few corny self-deprecating jokes that aren’t even memorable. Of course there’s the ability to mute and usually those calls are set up so that you’re automatically muted so that the speaker isn’t interrupted. Back in Covid days, there were a whole bunch of company zooms. I put one on my phone and headed to my computer to check my emails. I yelled: “The f***ing internet isn’t working!” In an attempt to get Kathy’

Saw a news notice from 4 years ago. “Tom Hanks & Rita Wilson have Covid.” Boy it took me back! “Were you better off four years ago than you are now?” That’s hardly a question now, is it? Man, the world was upside down 4 years ago. We were all at home - for the most part - I still went to work every day, but jobs were slow. We were all looking for fashionable masks… …we all were hearing stories about guys who got Covid and ended up on ventilators. Unfortunately, we all heard of people who died of it. I know of at least 5 people who were here 4 years ago, got Covid, and died early. We were all watching the news and the daily press conferences. Some people took horse pills. A scant few drank bleach. All in all, it wasn’t much fun, but seeing that news report on Tom and Rita - who survived their Covid battle - truly rocked me a little. Four years simply flies on by! And Covid talk now is a non-existent. I saw that the CDC said that coming down with Covid is no longer a reason to stay h

Jerry Seinfeld did a routine - a long time ago - about how weird sports fanatics are. I thought about it yesterday as NFL free agency hit and players moved to new locations. The Bills lost Gabe Davis and Leonard Floyd to new teams. They were players that my boys rooted for week in and week out. “Lost Gabe, huh?” I asked Jake. “You going to root for him next year now that he’s in Jacksonville?” “Of course not,” Jake said, looking at me as if I spouted a 3rd eye. And of course, I’ve had some trouble with this in the past as former Red Sux players that I couldn’t stand signed with the Yankees. Who would’ve ever imagined that I’d like Johnny Damon or Wade Boggs?  (I never warmed to A-Rod or Clemens - even though I clapped if they did something good). I also didn’t want to see guys who left - Robby Cano - do well if they decided to leave. So, yeah, we’re rooting for laundry. And for all the NFL guys who say: “Baseball doesn’t have a salary cap!” I have news for you: Neither does football! T

There was a rebuttal of the State of the Union by a Alabama member of Congress - Katie Britt… …no one had any clue as to who she was. She probably should’ve kept it that way, but instead, she spent her time in a kitchen, telling us that Mom’s and Women everywhere across the land are scared out of their minds because the migrants are coming. She told a horrific story of violence and did her best to imply that the current administration is putting all of us in grave danger. She misrepresented the story of the violence. 1). The attack did not take place in America. 2). The story she told happened more than 15 years ago. 3). Joe Biden wasn’t responsible for it. Now we are being told, every single day that the border is being overrun and that we are all in grave danger as the blood of the nation is being poisoned. Meanwhile, the most extensive border bill was shit-canned by the people selling the fear. It certainly didn’t take long to expose the poor, scared housewife. Yet, instead of admit

The news is so damn depressing. I try not to check it. I’ve been listening to spring training talk. I know all about where the experts see the Yankees finishing this year: Between 92 & 98 wins and in a good spot come playoff time.  I agree. And the Red Sux are going to finish last for the 3rd straight year…so all good. Yet, I checked the news…much to my dismay. The ‘billionaire’ who was convicted of sexual assault can’t pay the fine. The media is still pretending that this is a choice between two different ideologies. I can’t figure what the GOP stands for. Can you? Rage? And aren’t there more court cases? I know there was a fraud case that resulted in $450 million in fines, but it stands to reason that if you can’t afford the $83 million you probably haven’t set aside almost a half billion either. Then we have the stealing of classified documents case. Or the insurrection charges. Not to be upended by the Stormy Daniels problem (she was the porn star he paid off with election fund

On Friday I had another speaking engagement in Waterloo, NY. (Getting tired of hearing myself talk). Yet, it came with a 90-minute break around lunchtime. I went for a walk when the other speaker was up. Spotted a 💈 sign. I normally get my hair trimmed at Super Cuts - it doesn’t take long! The bell chimed as I opened the door and I locked eyes with an older, definitely Italian man. “You’re next,” he said. My mind took me back about 50 years…. …to Saturday mornings at the barbershop in North Collins. Louie would take HOURS cutting our hair - talking to Dad the whole way as we squirmed in the chairs. Those Saturday morning haircuts were torture, but I watched Leo of Waterloo cut the man’s hair as I waited. I couldn’t wait to get into the chair. “Just a trim?” Leo asked as I sat down. “Not sure what else you can do with it,” I said. Leo laughed. “You Italian?” He asked. “Yeah!” We had a connection. I told him about Louie and my haircuts as a kid.  He shaved my neck with a straight razor.

Today is my sister Carrie’s birthday and she is embarking on a truly amazing, exciting endeavor. Her first book is on the horizon! It’s going to be called “Eyes on the Horizon” and it’s a story idea that she’s worked on for a long time. I have read plenty of her fiction through the years, and I have only one thing to say: It’s about damn time!!! And, I have implored her to enjoy every second of the process. (Here’s a little insight for you - it’s not all that FUN to put a book out - it’s hard!) Yet, there are great moments: Like seeing the cover, or holding the first copy, or getting that first message from someone who was touched by the story, or in handing Mom her copy. All great stuff! Happy Birthday to my beautiful, brilliant sister… …relax and enjoy it! It’s going to be incredible, and no one can ever take it from you! We love you, enjoy your day!

We watched the reality show for the Stallone family. Sly has a wife and three lovely, goofy daughters and of course, his brother Frank hangs around. It’s laid-back and an easy watch but they truly have to go out of their way to try and work up a problem. They have houses everywhere. When they vacation it’s not a ‘let’s use our miles’ type of situation. Yet, there was certainly one major problem. When they do venture out in public, Rocky is absolutely surrounded. Within a couple of hours - even at an ice cream shop in Italy - hundreds…thousands show up to catch a glimpse. “That’s gotta’ be horrible,” I said. And Stallone seems like a gracious, decent guy. He certainly doesn’t complain about his fame, but man, it looks like an absolute nightmare. “Would you bother him if you saw him in public?” Kathy asked. “I’d feel like I would have to tell him how much those films meant to my Dad and my brothers and sisters,” I said. “But how many times a day does he hear that?” “Right?” And celebrity

I dreaded the site visit to the Bills Stadium job. It’s just a massive endeavor and the politics and oversight is mind-numbing. I realize that it has to be because an incident on a job of that size would be a huge story. There are a whole lot of safeguards in place, and they need to have a meeting to figure out why they are having so many meetings. I was invited to a meeting.  It should’ve lasted about 3 minutes, but I was still sitting there about 35 minutes in as we read a form, line-by-line. Then I went down into the ‘hole’, as they call it. You can clearly see the outline of the place. I considered the people who might be excited by the prospect of looking around the joint, but I could only see guys I know… …working really hard every day. It always is stunning to me that the same guys I chat with, make fun of, and trade barbs with, are the people who can put together such a place. Years ago I was at the Salamanca Casino looking up at the hotel from the outdoor hot tub. “What’re you

On Monday morning I had to make a long drive East. Normally when I have an early training start a 120 miles away I’ll go in the night before, but I didn’t want to leave on Sunday, and the weather forecast for Monday was terrific. Would be a great day to drive. And it was, but the rising sun in your face as you head East is a tad irritating if you see the sun every day. We don’t, so I didn’t mind. I had the baseball pre-season talk on, a big coffee and plenty of time. I could see for miles and miles. I noticed the stopped traffic just 45 miles into my trip. “Oh boy.” We weren’t stalled for construction work. This was something more. Heard sirens and had to move out of the way for a fire truck. Two helicopters arrived - ‘Mercy Flight’ on the sides. I called ahead and mentioned I wasn’t going to arrive on time. “Do something,” the guy said. “I have 100 guys sitting here. You’re the speaker.” “I tried called the Great Gazoo but he didn’t answer,” I said, referencing the ‘Flintstones.’ “Wha

I’ve never played golf in Western New York in March. Until yesterday. On the way to the course I played a few songs that me and my brother Jeff loved.  This is a tough time of the year. I know one thing for sure - Jeff would be enraged if I gave away a day for grief. So, I mentioned golf, knowing he’d be along for the ride. We had all the guys who are the regulars in our 4-some, and there were smiles all around - I basically hadn’t seen any of them since October. Yet, I was worried. My body hasn’t felt great lately. I didn’t think it would be much of a round, but just swinging would be enough. Stepped to the tee, announced that we were off in 2024, and that hit it straight down the middle. There was a lot of standing water and plenty of mud. There wasn’t a lot of bouncing onto the green, but the greens held the chips that Pops - who has dropped a whole bunch of pounds! - kept hitting close. We all hit good to great shots on a day when the colder temperatures kept the distances down. Bu

A college football player, when being interviewed at his combine, explained that he doesn’t believe in outer space, or planets or any of that stuff. Seriously. We’ve long heard about the group of people who don’t believe that the earth is round, and there are some who never believed that there were dinosaurs. The other day I watched a Shitler supporter explaining that Biden isn’t President and never was because… …get this… …he’s dead. “So who is the president?” The interviewer asked. “No one. The military is in charge until Trump is ready to take charge again.” I looked at the man. He seemed to be just a normal dude. He also spent a lot of time citing sources and ‘facts’ that prove it all. Dude believes it. And it’s long been insane to me that social media has made everyone believe that they’re equal. Their idiotic opinion means the same as what a nuclear scientist might say about, oh I don’t know, nuclear power! The name-calling has been something being used as a tool to justify some

We got the invitation about two months ago. A Jack & Jill party for Matt and his bride to be, Alicia. “What the hell is this?” I asked. “That’s what they do now,” Kathy said. “Kind of a shower and a bachelor party at the same time.” “Are there strippers?” I asked. Then I forgot about it until about three hours before it started. “Ahh, shit,” I thought. Well, we went and had a great time! Basket raffles, a chance to see all the boys that all my boys hung out with when they were kids, and one by one they all came by and talked about how much fun they had at the house all those years. I shook hands with my husband-in-law and spent some time speaking with his parents - they are good, solid people and they were good to my boys - driving them home, and treating them as if they were their own grandkids. We compared grey hairs, and spoke about the coming wedding and it’s always strange to see the kids doing the same weird things we did at that age. Time truly flies on by. I played the bask

We were watching a documentary about a pretty nasty guy - “The Truth About Jim” - and it talked a lot about Santa Rosa girls who were murdered back in the ‘70’s. They were all hitchhikers who got in the wrong car. When I was growing up there were a lot more hitchhikers on the roads. It seemed like you’d see at least a couple a day. “Don’t EVER hitchhike! Don’t EVER pick up a hitchhiker!” Mom’s words were the final words on the subject.  I can honestly say that I never once stuck my thumb out hoping for a ride. Yet, I DID pick up a hitchhiker once. I was driving back to school and it was raining hard. The poor guy was soaked, and when I saw him out there, I felt bad. Man, I was a nervous wreck the entire way! And he was also a weird dude, which made it even worse. He didn’t say a whole lot the entire time he was in the car, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how they were going to find my body in the woods, and he was going to race down Route 5 in my car. It didn’t happen that way, of c