Memories drift through my mind of countless years watching the fireworks from the banks of the Elizabeth River. From the days of my elementary years I can recall their colors saturating the evening sky on Independence Day. Once, as a child, I stood alone some short distance from the black sky as it burst into a tapestry of lights. Several calender years later and well into puberty I found myself across the river's shore in Norfolk. All I wanted at the time was to muster up enough courage to wrap my skinny brown arms around a new crush. Needless to say, it never happened. Since those days I've left Virginia time and time again only to return. Decades later on this particular night I found myself again on the same river watching the last cloud of smoke fade out on the 4th of July.
