I don’t think I’ll be afraid

This was originally written on June the 8th of this year

So here it is, the night before I get to see (and walk) the metal monster known as the New River Gorge Bridge. I’m not but a half hour away from it, still sight unseen and I’ve yet to even drive across it. Now I am finally in its territory of rugged mountains and deep chasms. I had almost put it out of my mind the day before today, during the previous leg of my trip. Not because I wasn’t anticipating it; rather I had other things on my mind. But now that I’m here in a nearby town, for only one purpose, it has come back to the forefront of my mind. Tonight the sun has set on the steel beast that spans the gorge, and tomorrow it will rise again on it as it has done for the past 46 years. I was only a child when the bridge was completed, and for all of the intervening years from that time until now I was completely unaware of its existence. This despite the fact that I had seen images of it (just like the Key Bridge) but I did not know the significance of it or anything about it at all. It was just some old bridge somewhere in West Virginia that was depicted on a state quarter many years ago. It certainly didn’t look huge or scary. And naturally I never even gave a thought to its sinister reputation.

I know what tomorrow will bring, but in some ways I don’t know. The day will dawn, I’ll awaken, get myself ready and plot a course towards the monster that rules the gorge. I will see it with my own eyes, and whatever thoughts and emotions come into my mind I will deal with at that time. Still, I wonder if I will find it unnerving to be up so high, walking a long, narrow pathway. Roller coasters and tall amusement park rides don’t scare me but I don’t walk around on top of them! Worse yet if I will be able to feel the movement of the beast around me from the cars and trucks that cross the road that it supports. I hope I won’t end up death-gripping the hand rail! I’m not afraid of the monster, or at least I don’t want to appear that I am. At least I don’t think I’ll be afraid. I know I won’t fall as I’ll be tethered securely to the beast itself, but still, just the very idea might become overwhelming.

What else can I say at this point? I’ve come a long way just to face this monster, and do what I can never do with the Key Bridge. This is the culmination (or, perhaps just the first stopping point of a longer journey) of the epic that began for me when the Key Bridge collapsed over two months ago. Soon I will behold this spectacular and intimidating creation and the land that it inhabits. I will approach it with all of this behind me and what will be, will be….