Friday, April 07, 2006

Bridges

According to the dictionary "a bridge is a structure spanning and providing passage over a gap or barrier, such as a river or roadway." Or a canyon, or a canyon WITH a river. I've known a number of bridges in my life. These are pictures of the Cable Bridge and the Blue Bridge that connect Kennewick to Pasco.


Growing up in the Tri - Cities you become used to bridges. The Columbia River divides Kennewick from Pasco and Pasco from Richland. The Yakima River divides Kennewick from Richland. The Snake River divides Pasco from Burbank, and the Walla Walla River divides Burbank from Walla Walla. And even if you wanted to go south from Kennewick you'd still have to cross the Columbia River before entering Oregon.

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Theres a joke: You know you live in the Tri - Cities when if you don't cross a bridge you haven't gone any place, nor can you.

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Even here in Albuquerque bridges have become part of our normal life. The Rio Grande runs right down the middle of the city. There are only 6 main roads that allow you to go East or West over the river. If there is an accident on one or MORE of those roads plan on sitting in traffic for a long time.

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There's this saying I remember hearing my dad use quite often. "Cry me a river, build a bridge, and get over it!"

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A random question by my husband led to a series of events that have caused me to think about the metophoric bridges in my life. I started thinking about different people from high school, I was curious about one in particular. If he did with his life what he said he was going to do when we were high school. I found my old high school year book from my senior year, I sat for awhile reminscing, looking at the different pictures and messages people had written.

I googled this old classmate. I found a little info on him but was not able to email him. I am so frustrated with these alumni websites that allow you to put your contact information on them, but you can't actually CONTACT anyone without having a paid membership. I thought I would possibly try to create a yahoo group for my high school class like I did with all the music majors at Ricks. I emailed my two closest friends from high school. Particularly because they're the only ones for which I have email addresses. One I've kept in better touch with than the other. I wrote them with my idea and how I came up with the idea. A few days later I received an email from the one I haven't been in contact with as well. Her response was not what I expected. She accused me of being nosey, not being a good friend to the people I DID have emails for (mainly her), and that I was just fishing for information about other people that would make me feel better about my own situation.

This email in particular has caused me some great reflection. Especially in reference to the different bridges in my life. A week after this email it was still bothering me but I was trying to convince myself it was something I just needed to get over. That same day Karen wrote a post that contained a couple of quotes, one of those hit home with me because of the things I had been raking over in my head.

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"We cross our bridges when we come to them and burn them behind us, with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and a presumption that once our eyes watered."
~Tom Stoppard

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This single quote caused me to reflect upon my many metophoric bridges. I have always thought of myself as one that would never let a bridge be burned. In fact it was something I prided myself on. I was sitting there with a pail of water, any time I even saw a little cinder start up I was there in an attempt to put it out. Many considerations now have made me wonder whether I was really as good at protecting the bridges as I thought. Did I allow some to be burned without a fight? Was I not paying attention as another burst into flames and fell down into the cravase? Did I burn a bridge? Was I fanning the flames when I thought I was actually dousing the fire? Or maybe is it that my situation with no fault of my own caused some bridges to self-combust?

I always thought I was the one with the fire extinguisher. But perhaps I was the one with the torch? Or maybe I just turned a blind eye to the flame. I'm afraid that there have been a few bridges that can't be rebuilt, no matter how much I wish I could try maybe it's just not worth the effort.

Maybe it wasn't me that burned it down, but I'm not the one that needs to rebuild it.
Posted by ABQ Mom :: 4/07/2006 04:08:00 PM :: 10 Comments:

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