On the Bridge

Immersed in the "changing décor" mindset (it will take me several days to de-Christmasify my home and the café), I decided on the spur of the moment last night to change my heading picture here at Coming to Terms. The red-tail was lovely, and still one of my favorite personal photographs of all time; but I'm not feeling too "soaring hawk"-ish these days. I felt the need for a change.

The picture I had in mind—of a flight of brown pelicans dipping over the tops of the waves at a "land's end" beach—ended up being…somewhere not exactly at my fingertips. On one of my jillion other computers, I suppose. So I ended up with the one above—a shot of the Astoria-Megler Bridge, which connects Oregon with Washington near the mouth of the Columbia River. The picture was taken from the foot of the Astoria Column—high up on a hilltop overlooking the city of Astoria and lots of beautiful coastland. And the bridge.

When I thought about it, I realized that the bridge picture is SO representative of where I am in life right now. I'm on a bridge, somewhere between two major points in my life—in-café and post café. The bridge in the picture leads from the breath-taking beaches of Oregon, with which I am so familiar, to—well, to more of the same north of the border. Places I have heard of but have never visited. Places of equal beauty to my beloved Oregon coast.

This is how I must see the life bridge I am on now. I'm certainly going away from something I have loved, something I thought was the fulfillment of my fondest dreams. I'm not particularly happy about saying goodbye to it all…but I'm in the middle of the bridge, and I can't turn around now. I have to have faith that what waits for me on the other side is as wonderful as what I'm leaving behind. And that the lessons I've learned are packed safely in my trunk, ready to be pulled out and put to use when new challenges confront me. Perhaps giving me a better chance of accomplishing something real and lasting in my next adventure.