The Bridges We Cross

I often joke with my husband that I'm an unapologetic bridge-burner: When I'm done with something, I move on to The Next Big Thing and I don't look back, even if it was a success. High school. Old jobs. Former neighborhoods. Things of the past, to stay in the past. So it's been rather strange for me to dip my toes into the roaring torrent of social media and reconnect with characters from different chapters of my life. And it's been surprising and often pleasant to cross back over a bridge that I didn't think I'd cross again. There's a sweetness about finding old friends (many of them from my pre-teen years!), because we shared private jokes, silly notes, heartbreaks, and dramas, long before we had spouses, our own homes, or children--before our adult lives took over. I find that I'm still so fond of these old friends. Me, the alleged bridge-burner!

My daughter, Charlotte, loves full moons, bumpy roads, and bridges, and any time she comes across any of those things, she's filled with pure, contagious glee. She passed over a very meaningful bridge last week: the bridge from kindergarten to first grade. In the morning (eating her crisp apple for breakfast and contemplating the day ahead), she was a kindergartener...

...but by afternoon, she was a first-grader.

We pass over so many bridges in our lives, and we take on new titles to show our progression. Student to Graduate. Employee to Supervisor. Singleton to Spouse. DINKs (Double-Income-No-Kids) to Parents. Mother-of-One to Mother-of-Two. We cross borders and take on new identities: New Yorker to Pennsylvanian, World Traveler to Nester. So many journeys, so many titles, so many changes.

Catherine Newman writes in her masterpiece of a parenting book (at turns hilarious and heart-breaking), Waiting for Birdy, "Michael and I were two people, and now we are four. First there is one kind of life, then there is another...With the first baby, you can kind of squint at your former self, but it's as if you're parting a heavy, dark curtain to see it: 'Was that just last week that we got a slice of pizza and went to the movies?' you think, right after the baby's born. Who were those people?"

It all goes so quickly, doesn't it? I'm all about having less stuff now, but when it comes to photographs, I take many of them. Even if I think I'll remember every detail of the day, it's important--really, really important--to keep reminders of the bridges we cross.

What bridges have you crossed lately? How do you remember or stay connected to different chapters of your life? Please share in the Comments section below (now powered by CommentLuv for easier use). If you are reading this post via email subscription, click on the title or go to www.JoyfullyGreen.com and you can leave a comment at the original post.

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