…and summer officially arrives on Sunday but wouldn’t it be great if we could enjoy summer vacation they way we did when we were kids? You’d leave work one June day and not have to show up again until the last week in August. The closest I can think of an adult being able to enjoy something like that was my dad. Back in the day he, like a gazillion other guys up and down the Ohio, Allegheny and Mon valley, worked in the Steel mill. Now, I don’t know if everyone one got to enjoy this perk but if you put in enough years at Weirton Steel, you earned a 9 week vacation. Imagine being able to negotiate something like that today even if you’re in a Union like my dad was. Imagine a 9 week vacation and getting paid every two weeks too. So what did he do with all this time off? Take the family to the beach or do a little traveling? No, he worked side jobs painting and I was his helper. YAY for me right? He’s up on the ladder and I’m down below steadying it. What fun. My neighbor would take fishing trips to Canada while I would take trips to various neighborhoods in the Weirton area. Well, it did put a couple of buck in my pocket too and it wasn’t something he did for the entire 9 weeks. So I still had a chance to sleep in and spend the rest of the day at the pool, we had a season pass. But man, to be able to enjoy a summer vacation they way we did when we were kids, now that would be great.