Legacy

Some things stay with you for life. That statue of Leif Erikson is how I remember my hometown of Newport News, VA.

He guarded the main entrance to Mariners' Museum when I was a little scamp. At over nine feet tall, he looked out to the horizon, searching for something. What I don't know, but he was steadfast in his decision and direction.

I have photographs taken with him as a small boy, later as a teenager with my junior year girlfriend and much later as a returning son visiting my parents. On one of those trips back home in the early Eighties, I was shaken when I couldn't find him. The museum had moved him during one of their remodelings. I finally found him in a small exploration park across from the old front entrance to the museum.

Within the last few years, they moved him inside the museum. Even in his new location, his vision hasn't changed. He still searches the horizon.

He was the son of Erik the Red, hence his surname - Erikson. He was a Viking and a Seafarer. My people were seafarers before we settled down in the shipyard town of Newport News. I'm glad they settled there. I'm very proud of my roots and my people.

I've always felt a kinship to Lief Erickson. As a young boy, I wanted to be named Erik or Erikson. It was a powerful name with a strong legacy. A legacy made of the seas, adventure and a new land waiting to be discovered.

Since I couldn't be Erik, I gave that name to my son. With it, he sails his own seas and, like Leif Erikson, he searches the horizon - searching for his own new found land.

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