On the Brooklyn Side...

I haven’t written anything as of late for fear that I would just babble on and on about this boy that I have and how he makes me light up, and he does. I haven’t written about it because I know when I read things like that it makes me gag. Sure someone is happy, sure it’s great to see that, but also, it makes me gag.

So instead, I’ll write about the Brooklyn Bridge.

The fact that I love bridges really does throw me off a bit, because I fear going over them. I fear that they will collapse and I will be on them. I have much of that same fear of walking over subway grates in the city. I fear that I will be walking on them and my weight will cause them collapse. Never mind the fact that nearly everyday several people walk over these grates and bridges and make it over just fine. In the back of my mind that little voice says, but what if today is the day. And so I avoid walking over grates in the city, taking the longest route possible to not have to step on one because the moment my foot touches one, my heart clenches and I get seized with a panic. So, I avoid them.

Bridges however, I cannot avoid. Living in Arizona most of the bridges I saw were over dirt and even then there weren’t that many. Living in New Jersey I can’t drive 10 miles without having passed over 3 or more bridges. Rivers are everywhere, and they’re actually riverbeds, not dried up. Even now I still get a kick out of going over a bridge and seeing water below. So you could say I’ve managed to overcome my fear of bridges. I no longer feel my heart seize in panic, but rather a weird calming euphoria feeling. So what is it about the Brooklyn Bridge that makes it my favorite bridge?
The first time I went to the Brooklyn Bridge was circa my 23rd Birthday. It was rainy and cold. But I stood there in aw starring at this massive structure that I had fallen in love with through only pictures. It was the most beautiful bridge I had ever seen with its massive arches lit and twinkling in the rain. And it would become a beacon for me a place to go when I felt restless.

While the Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the U.S and history does appeal to me, that isn’t what gets me. It’s not that it was one of the longest suspension bridges in the world and its not that its over 125-years-old, though that’s pretty impressive too. Come to think of it, I can’t really name what I love so much about this bridge, what I can say is that when I stand below it I feel at home.