The Del Real Deal

By Carlos del Real

A Public Service Announcement

16 June 2023
Here’s some good news I just discovered. Kids no longer need a license to have a lemonade stand. We can thank the Aarie family of Montgomery County which fought a $500 fine, and possibly 90 days in lock-up, when their kids tried to sell lemonade during the U.S. Open in 2011. This event garnered national attention and was reported even in The Wall Street Journal. The result was House Bill 0052, which was submitted to the Maryland House by Neil Parrott.

We have an entrepreneurial child on Margate Road of whom we expect great things. He combines hypersonic energy and curiosity with confidence and sociability. From an early age, maybe three years old, it was a frequent game for him to have a pretend store in his little play house. He would “sell” us cookies and candies and delight in getting a penny or a quarter. I tried to give him an IOU once, no luck there. Some years later he became our best customer at our yard sales. The removal of this obstacle is designed for him.

It is good to consider that laws that seem so reasonable at first can result in unintended consequences. This is the problem with what are often presented to us as common sense laws. Of course, food safety is important, but really, lemonade? It is frequently forgotten that, at the end of the day, rules will be enforced with fines or worse by regulators who have little consideration or power to apply the very common sense that is the justification that the regulations claim.

I’m looking forward to our little friend, Isidore, becoming the next Northwood Park tycoon.

Greetings

28 May 2023
How do you do? Hello. Hey. High five. Fist bump. Head nod. Notice anything? Our greeting behavior is trending toward nonexistence. We have just returned home from our southwest vacation. There we met surprisingly large numbers of foreign travelers: France and Spain and India and Japan and, of course, other parts of the U.S. I noticed a difference in these world travelers. The French, for instance, have not dropped the double kiss-kiss in favor of a forehead slam. The Spanish still are doing it, too. It starts with the right cheek first, by the way, so go to the left. The Indians and the Japanese are still bowing, albeit to different degrees. But many Americans are getting near to grunting and calling it a day.

Coming home to our neighborhood, however, the greetings were effusive, heartfelt, and plentiful. Interesting. Is this a case of the exception proving the rule? I think not. I believe that we may have lucked into an exceptional neighborhood and that our genuine caring for each other can be the antidote to the current trend. So, greetings to you all and, though we had a spectacular time, we are glad to be back.

[Carlos del Real lives on Margate Road.] ■