I know this was crazy, but I just had to get out tonight. I took a short walk through the city with my newfound scarf, and I’m so glad I did. With the scarf wrapped tightly, I trekked my way to the pedestrian bridge here at Purdue and stood on the bridge for a while listening to my headphones. It’s been a disconcerting week in some senses, so taking a little time to myself seemed necessary.
I’ve never really been out at night on the bridge in winter before, and it seems like I picked just the right time. There were giant ice sheets floating down the river, and I could hear them shattering and colliding as they were broken on the supports of the bridge. It was one of the most amazing thing’s I’ve ever seen - sheets of ice larger than the apartment I live in being broken in half against the inevitable pillars of concrete. Each time one started to break little shards of ice would spin off into the water and sparkle as they caught the light from lamps in the park. The layers of ice overlapping and leaving jagged edges where they were forced to change.
I started to head back after promising myself one last large sheet and a train started going by. I walked over the bridge with my car in mind and I could feel the heat radiating off of the train as it went by. I’m always curious if the engineers see people on the bridge, and if so, what they think of us. The train keeps going all year round, but the people that come and go to watch it are so transient.
I’m sure there’s analogies galore to be found in these two scenes…but I’m storing them away.