I promised myself I would never do this. I've heard the horror stories; my mother practically ingrained them in me. It was from both sides, too.

Never ever hitchhike, Sophie - you don't know who you could be getting into a car with. What if they're a murderer?

Never ever pick up a hitchhiker, Sophie - you don't know who you could be letting in you're car. What if they're a runaway criminal? What if they murder you?

From her penthouse in the Upper West Side, my mother had very strong opinions about things that quite literally never concerned her. That's my mother for you.

Driving up the windy roads approaching the Catskill mountains; however, I noticed two figures stalking up the side of the road, and they had their thumbs stuck up in the universal hitchhiker signal. My mother's warnings, of course, crossed my mind instantly, but those words were quieted by several other circumstances at play.

#1. The two figures in question were, almost certainly, female. Not for nothing, it does make a difference in my mind. In fact, I might even feel guilty to leave two women walking up the street alone, only to be picked up by some strange, potentially dangerous man, especially when I could have helped.

#2. And this one confirmed it in my mind that I just had to stop: it was raining buckets. I'm talking about torrential downpour. I couldn't in good conscience, leave these two poor girls walking uphill for god knows how long in the makings of a flood.

And so I slowed to a stop as I approached them. I unlocked the doors of my Kia Sorento just as the travelers realized that I was, in fact, stopping for them. They scurried over to my car, wrenched open the car door, and dove out of the rain into my backseat.

Before even giving them a chance, I started nervously rambling as I pulled back onto the road, "Hi, I hope you weren't in the rain for too long! Although I'm sure you guys want to get out of those wet clothes, so let me know where I can drop you off. I'm not from town, so you might need to help me out a bit extra with directions, but I'm sure we'll be able to figure it out together. Does that sound good?"

The response I got was the very last thing I was expecting - hysterical laughter. I mean downright cackling from both women in the backseat of my car. Women who I - if I'm very honest, am tempted to throw right back out of my car. With a peer in the rearview mirror, I saw them both doubled over in their seats from laughing so hard, and that got my mouth working again.

"What in the hell?" I said, raising my voice slightly to be heard over the raucous laughter behind me. With another look in the rearview mirror, I saw one of my passengers finally lift her head, to which I said once again:

"What in the hell?"

Between chuckles, the hitchhiker responded, "What did Mom always say about picking up hitchhikers, Sophie?"

"The same thing she said about being a hitchhiker, Sarah. Don't do it!" I quipped.

In the backseat of my car sat my younger sister, Sarah, and her girlfriend, Naomi - the very two people I was in the Catskills visiting.

"Naomi convinced me to do it! She's a bad influence you know!" Sarah teased, to which Naomi swatted her arm. "You, on the other hand, have just ignored the wisdoms imparted on us in our childhood all on your own!"

"Okay, if that's how you see it, then you can get out, and Naomi and I will wait for you to stumble all the way back to your house soaking wet," I retorted.

Sarah just chuckled again. "Thanks though, Soph. We've been having car troubles, so we thought there would be no harm walking into town to pick up the last few groceries we needed before you got here"

"Yeah," Naomi added, "it was sunny and clear just an hour ago. We obviously never would have left if we thought this was going to happen."

"Of course! I'm just glad it was you two, and not anybody dangerous." I responded, shivering slightly at my mom's worst fears and warnings came to mind.

As if reading my mind, Sarah suggested, "Right. Let's never tell Mom about this."

"Agreed," I laughed. With that, I continued steering us through the Catskills in the pouring rain, not once coming across another hitchhiker.