Kirby: Paper route taught me the Old Man could really sling some whoppers

I had a paper route when I was 11 years old. Every evening, I delivered the Idaho Statesman to approximately 50 homes in south Boise. I hated it. Mean dogs, rude customers, bad weather and general drudgery were some of the worst parts of it, but it was the responsibility that I disliked the most. It involved dismissing my own feelings in favor of doing a job I hated for people I didn’t particularly like. My father, Robert Kirby Sr., insisted that onerous responsibility was good for me. Life was...