When I was 11 going on 12 and living in Connecticut, I had a little paper route I was in charge of. I had about 15 houses on my route, and it really wasn't all the difficult to do, because we lived on a cul-de-sac at the time, and all of the houses were on one street. I would get up around 6:30 or so before school, pick up the papers that were dropped in front of my house, put them in a satchel, get on my bike, deliver the papers and then get ready for school. I don't remember exactly how much money I made, but I remember it being a big deal for an 11 year old--and I was delivering the papers so early, that I never really had to engage in any small talk. Win-Win.

As the summer of 1986 came closer, I remember begging my parents to attend this basketball camp that was going to be held at the United States Military Academy at West Point, and since so many of my friends were going to be there, I wanted in as well. My parents said yes, and for one week in July, I was going to head to camp. About a week before I left, I asked one of my friends who lived in the neighborhood, if he would deliver the newspapers for me, and he said yes. I called my "boss", I told him that I'd be gone for a week, but I had coverage, and he said it was cool and that allowed me to enjoy my West Point basketball experience without worrying about who was going to get the paper, get the papers.

Unfortunately for me, when I got back from basketball camp, my friend would not give me the paper route back. I guess he enjoyed the little bit of money as I had come to enjoy it, and it wouldn't give it back. My supervisor wasn't obligated to fight for me, because I voluntarily gave it up and legally I had no recourse. I think I asked this dude to give it back to me at least 5 or 6 times, and our parents even talked, but it didn't happen for me. I remember beating his ass after his it was clear I wasn't going to get it back, but even that only helped me feel better temporarily. A year later I moved from Connecticut to Maryland, and I was STILL salty about that.

What made me think about this? This morning while I was on my to the pool, I saw a guy delivering the Washington Post from his car. He just rolled down the windows both on the driver and passenger side, and launched the paper, so that it landed perfectly on each doorstep. I admired his skill and accuracy, but it brought me back to my stolen paper route. So tomorrow I'm carjacking this dude and hijacking his route..its the circle of life.