Robert Mitchell photo
This is the first February vacation week that I have taken since as least 1986, which is the year before I started at the Boothbay Register. I may have taken the traditional winter school vacation week off in 1987 but I doubt it. I was bartending at Everybody's Restaurant and I needed to work to support my wife, Melodee, and daughter, Sara, who was born in 1984. Son Tim came along in 1988.
My February vacation weeks have been nonexistent because I have been covering the schoolboy and schoolgirl basketball tournaments since 1988. As you may have noticed, I love basketball and it has been a week I look forward to every year. Sadly, this year there is no Maine Principals' Association tournament due to COVID-19.