Some skills are learned later in life, such as learning to back a boat and trailer down the launch ramp using only the side mirrors. I've been backing boats into the water since I've been old enough ...

From the front seat of my brother’s SUV, I smelled the faintest whiff of scorched metal but paid little heed—until, that is, we reached the launch-ramp parking lot, got out, and saw the sizzling-hot ...