Blog Your Blessings: Off-road Moments

Give all to love; obey thy heart. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Driving through the Litchfield hills a few weeks ago to get to a soccer game in Sharon, we went off course a bit to pay a visit to this covered bridge in Cornwall, Connecticut. Like most things of beauty, it was worth seeing because it was there. We walked around the bridge just to see how it was put together, see the Housatonic River beneath it, see through it to the village on the other side.

While we looked around, we listened to the dull wooden sound of cars slowly passing over the planks of the bridge. It was a beautiful sound. It was a sight to behold: expensive, shiny cars built for speed and comfort slowing to a donkey's pace to cross a bridge just for the sake of crossing it.

Among the visitors was a couple from Brookfield come to have lunch and see if time had left everything where this man's memory had placed it. He was delighted that it had.

My husband took their picture in front of the bridge. It was a cool, grey day. The woman's long blond hair was the brightest thing about the scene. They were both genuinely happy together. It was as nice to watch them as it was to listen to the bridge slowing the traffic.

Two thoughts come to mind as I reflect on this blessing of shared joy. One, in the words of a friend and teacher: "I want to know as much as I can about where I am because it's where I am. I don't need Bermuda; I want to see what's here." The other, in the words of an artist reflecting on his creative process: "We seek the big things, but we must look through the small ones to find the big."

Seems to me it's always that way.