My Absence and Apologies

To Our Readers;

First, my apologies for my lengthy absence from the blog. I have been in communication with Ralph and I believe he will concur that it was necessary, at least for my mental health. I do appreciate the personal e-mails that I received asking about me, and again apologize that I could not answer them in more detail at the time.

Ralph knows the full details of the actions that precipitated my absence, as my counselor recommended disclosing them to someone I considered a "close" friend. I will only speak in generalities here on the matter. Beginning in late August of this year, my Family has been exposed to an extremely traumatic series of events that I would not wish on anyone. This began when a Family member (by marriage I should note) betrayed the trust of the rest of the Family, and betrayed his responsibility as a Father by causing harm to another, defenseless and minor, member of the Family. This betrayal has had a "ripple" effect, resulting in criminal charges against the betrayer, my Daughter to be facing impending divorce, my Grandson and Granddaughter to now be without a Father, and my Wife and I to have to face our worst fears, deal with our own thoughts of retribution (biblical justice has entered my mind on more than one occasion), and try and keep the core Family unit together under the worst imaginable conditions. We are all undergoing counseling and hopefully will begin to see some return to normality in the near future. We did have a good Thanksgiving holiday under the circumstances, and hope to have a good Christmas, for the children if nothing else.

While I have kept up with goings-on here and on other blogs that I follow, and have attempted to publicise the blog in occasional postings on TMP and the OSW wargaming Yahoo Group, I simply wasn't ready to re-focus my efforts on painting, researching, writing and the other activities that are relevant to this blog. I think I am now ready to begin trying to function again, but I hope that you will bear with me, as we do still have pending legal matters that will probably occupy my thoughts and time facing us. Thank you again for your patience and certain individuals for your concerns. At least for now, I remain;

Bill
Sir William the Aged