Although I wasn’t really aware of it as a young girl, I grew up in an area that offered the best of all worlds.  Ours was a small’ish’ town, nestled between the tall buildings and bustling streets of Cincinnati to the north, and the wide open expanse of  the blue grass hills of Kentucky just to the south.  As a child, our summers stretched wide from Memorial Day all the way through to the other side of Labor Day.  Attending summer school classes or participating in enriching lessons of various sorts just wasn’t heard of.  Instead, my siblings and I slept until our bodies woke naturally, gathered around the TV with a bowls of cereal in hand, and watched cartoons and game shows before heading out just steps from our house to cool off at the public pool.  Summer evenings brought only slightly cooler temperatures as we played under the streetlights way past school night bedtimes. Continue reading →