Mr. Norfolk

My great-uncle died this past Friday. This weekend, James and Lulu and I drove down to my hometown to be with family.

It was a shock to be there and to know my uncle was gone. In a lot of ways, he personified my hometown to me. He was a lawyer, a philanthropist, a local judge. He invested in blighted parts of the city and revitalized them. He did so much for the place that one of his nicknames was "Mr. Norfolk." Another thing that people called him was "Uncle Pete"--all people, whether or not they were actually related to him. Because he treated everybody he met like family.

As we drove around on Saturday and Sunday, meeting up with old friends and flitting from place to place, I took a series of pictures out of the car window, trying to see with fresh eyes the city where I was born, the city my uncle loved so much. It was ugly, blustery, and cold for most of the day, but all of the colors seemed to pop so much more against that gray sky. The dull slate of the battleships in the harbor, the faded brick of the art-deco buildings downtown, the bold primary colors of the flags, the bright blue of the bay.

We'll miss you, Uncle Pete. And so will this city that you loved so much.