Dear William, Daniel, Catherine, (and Michael & Baby Girl Y) (and your parents), (and any future descendants and their parents),

It has been quite a while since I wrote a letter to you — that is because I have been busy working on the 2014 Album and the 2013 Album (which is far from being finished yet).

But, first things first, let us welcome Baby Girl Y to our Family! Her Parents, Rysiu and Stepahanie, announced her gender when they received the news from their doctors. Babcia Kryrsia and I, and Grandpa Bill and Grandma Maureen, had been helping Rysiu and Stephanie move into their new house, and we were sitting around talking when the news came, on Friday, July 31, sometime in the afternoon. We were all very excited! On the right is a picture of Baby Girl Y, taken a few days later — I wonder what name Rysiu and Stephanie will choose for you.

The other Big News in the family is that Catherine, Stephanie and Rysiu moved from Washington DC to Alexandria VA.

It was during that move that we found out about Baby Girl Y’s gender. We expect to actually meet her, fact to face, in early February 2016. That will be exciting — I told my family about this anticipated blessed event, and everyone is looking forward to it!

OK. So, today is August 15, so let me tell you about a major event that happened on August 15, that I (and Babcia Krysia) missed. It was Woodstock — some say the event that defined the generation; and we missed it!

Babcia Krysia and I missed Woodstock because, when it happened, August, 15-18, 1969, both of us (but not together) were in Europe.

When I returned from Europe, I learned about this EVENT that had occurred. It was a very big news and social phenomenon.

At the time, although, to my parents, I was quite a radical, compared to many of my contemporaries, I was a radical in the opposite direction, i.e., I was very conservative [a “Goldwater Conservative“] — I joined the Army R.O.T.C. [but, in reality, this was a form of avoiding the draft {“My [draft] number was such that I decided to stay in R.O.T.C.“} — but, then again, life is complicated: read about my Airborne School experience and my very short Military Career]; I was not participating in the anti-war (Vietnam) movement; I did not have long hair; I was not smoking pot or experimenting with other drugs; and I am sure many more additional things that took me outside the norm.

CBS News coverage of WoodStock from August 18, 1969. With commercials and a commentary.

And, a sample of the music:

To me, one of the most intriguing facts about the Woodstock Festival is that it was NOT held in Woodstock, N.Y. — it was held 43 miles South West from Woodstock, at Max Yasgur’s 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills, near the hamlet of White Lake, in the town of Bethel, in Sullivan County, New York.

I always wanted to visit the site of this Festival, and Babcia Krysia and I finally did it on August 12, 2006.

If you are ever in the neighborhood, it is a nice place to visit. But, more importantly, be aware of the social phenomenons that are happening during YOUR lives; understand what drives them, participate in the worthwhile ones (and when you can); and take precautions (but be not too quick to condemn) against the ones you may not initially approve of (or understand).

Love,

Dziadziuś Paweł.

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