The news this morning had some startling aspects we thought were worth talking about, had no relation to America or American policy-makers, and did not occur on this continent. It was about Dutch Farmers, of all things, but we were told that since the matter directly involved discussion of energy policy, gunfire and the distribution of organic fertilizer on non-agricultural property, we should not comment. Splash mentioned the disruption on the Maryland part of the Capital Beltway, which was related only by issue and associated transit problems, but that was also ruled out of bounds, even if it was in a different state.

That editorial guidance left us with a piece of Family Business to cover yesterday. Several pieces, actually, and they had some generational aspects that might be affecting you, too. Regrettably, it required clearance from our almost-Attorney Amanda. She looked at it and did her new trick. She blacked it all out, saying it was “redacted” and so long as we didn’t mention anything in the darkened field, we were “good to go.”

So, we would be left with a moderately interesting drive through the Piedmont’s gentle rolling hills with a hired Bolivian driver at the wheel of the Panzer. The line between cultures seems to flow around the middle of the Rappahannock River, a perfectly nice place for it, and some force of social gravity directly increases through the junction towns of Remington, Opal and Warrenton. Just a few miles north of there are the strip cities of that provide housing for people who slog the thirty miles into the NoVA hinterlands of Fairfax to labor in service jobs, or work in the District itself amid the three year construction project on Interstate-66 that has been littered with random orange cones since before pandemic changed everything.

The point of that trip is not blacked out. There was “Family Business” to be accomplished, but the obscured text had the reasons for it, which included mention of the precocious beauty of granddaughters, the stoic maturity of sons who are raising them, the beauty of blue skies over the old Country Club pool where now multi-generations of a family had learned to dive and paddle. In turn, Amanda crossed out thee cool-multi-generational pictures, citing new concerns about privacy, information sharing, identity theft and potential doxxing threats. Now that everything can be shared with a simple smart phone, and everything is recorded in some fashion, we are supposed to be careful.

So, the part about why the trip involved Family stuff is all redacted. The second paragraph that started after “Leaving the property” is all gone. But we can say that we did, and it was good, and that we returned safely. There were expressions of love, respect and laughter, a fun poolside lunch provided by snack-bar staff, and the usual construction confusion that went along with the return drive.

It created an oddly blended time-scape, since the children are building a new home in the old home-town far away where their grandparents- the ones who raised us- had done the same things in the same town up in the Wolverine State seventy-odd years ago. With no city or address specified, Amanda said we could use the picture at the beginning of this short bit of fluff.

We thank her for her attention in that regard. This is an interesting time to be in a family! In this photo of a new home, we have been assured that the identity of all citizen or green-car holding workers is assured but not available in this fair-use low-resolution image. You can imagine there is a bit of a story about it! Amanda says we can say that almost everything is fine, grand-kids are unreal, we are proud of the generation we raised and the things they have accomplished, and we are confident everything is going to work out just fine!

Copyright 2022 Vic Socotra
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