The incident only ended when his parents arrived.

Two of these assaults took place on the bus.

“I know,” the Santorum dude responded, turning puce. “Failure to launch!”

“I was like, I can’t just ask somebody for a new pen while I’m doing this!”

Hey man, it’s always nice when you don’t get any Santorum on your Caucus.

God just doesn’t speak any clearer than that! She moves in mysterious ways.

“I, uh, as I was writing down [his name], my pen ran out of ink,”

Or maybe his publicist could have prepped the interviewer and said “hey, Nick’s relationships are off the table”, but of course he wants to be asked about that, so no such conversation was had.

Dear Mitch Albom,

Dear Mitch Albom,

How much are we talking here?

Maybe I’m old fashioned but if I was sexually assaulted, I’d at the very least like to get paid for it

I think it’s more like “thank you for taking the time to think positively about my family.” Or in other words,“thanks for trying.” Religious or not, if a stranger is taking a moment to concentrate on the healing of your father, whether prayer is bullshit or not, that’s very kind.

I’m not especially religious, but I take “I’m praying for you” as less “I’m praying for a magical cure for cancer” than “I’m praying that you and your loved one will find peace somehow and you’re in my thoughts and in my heart.”

Speaking from personal experience- I thank people for sincere offers of prayers. It’s not my thing, as I’m an atheist too, but if I want to be left alone to my own beliefs I can’t be a jerk to someone sincerely offering comfort in a way they know to give it.

As an atheist I would argue that prayers never work, but that's not the fault of the prayer giver and they should be thanked.

who called the mix-up “flattering,”

“From now on, I respectfully ask you to refer to me as Jen, Jennifer, Ms. Herold, or your opponent.”

And I don’t know if anybody explained to her