I’ve been very public about the fact that I lived in Virginia. After […] moved to a new state and I feel the need to be a little more private about my whereabouts […].
I have no doubts that […] new state will serve […] very very well. But, I do love Virginia. I consider myself a native son of Virginia despite having been born in California, because my Dad’s ancestral home is there and his departure from Virginia was a mere detour.
I grew up near the banks of the Potomac and Rappahannock, near Fredericksburg. I did my undergraduate education in Fredericksburg, and received my introductory education about the Civil War in those surrounds. Early in my career, as a local government auditor, I got to travel around our fair state quite a bit and explore points East as far as Kilmarnock, as far West as Rappahannock County near that fair rivers headwaters. My grandparents lived in the Shenandoah valley, my great grandmother was buried in Falls Church. I’ve been to Blacksburg, Virginia Beach, Charlottesville. I’ve been up Old Rag, I’ve been down Luray Caverns. I’ve seen the horses on Chincoteague, I’ve seen the foliage on Skyline drive.
Virginia is a beautiful state, with a beautiful climate. Robert E. Lee sacrificed his career and any political ambitions he may have had to fight for her. Her schools have produced many wise scholars and generals, her people have produced more presidents than any other state.
Yet, Virginia is also something of an enigma. The people of Northern Virginia aren’t really recognizable as anything other than cosmopoloi, residents who live on her soil without loving her character. Virginia has a political identity crisis between the blood-and-soil sons and daughters of Dixie who live in rural areas, and the carpet-bagging cosmopoloi who cram her cities. Virginia is a “purple state” because of this identity crisis.
My favorite name for Virginia is The Old Dominion. The name hearkens back to Virginia’s status as the oldest British colony on the Americas, and to me carries an air of both wisdom and age and stature–like an old retired general who waits at the chess tables for a young passer by to ask his story.
Virginia’s flag is the only flag in the Union which depicts an act of violence (or nudity). Sic Semper Tyrannis— “Thus Always to Tyrants”–a promise to always lay the tyrants low and slay them underfoot. Yet, this fixation on a single, solitary sovereign–a so-called Tyrant–has made the cosmopoloi and native-sons both blind to the dangers of popular tyranny. Thus, sometimes to tyrants.
I never really thought I would love a realm this way. I am sure I will learn to love my new home, and I hope to raise my children to love their native soil. But on leaving the Old Dominion for the last time–it feels like leaving home.
Thank you, Dixie, for preserving this native son on your shores and hills. My roots will always extend there, though my branches my extend far away. I will always love the Old Dominion–my Old Dominion.
See you soon.
AMDG
Times-Dispatch of Vichy Earth 