Sometimes you just have to be sitting on the side a bridge five feet from a train coming toward you to feel alive again.
Okay, you are probably wondering right now what I am talking about. Did I do this? Did I think I was about to die in that moment? Was it the best feeling ever? The answer is yes to all those questions. Let me tell the story so you can understand what I, someone who doesn't consider themselves brave, was feeling in this situation.
It all started with wanting to go to a park.
It was just my roommate Hannah and I. We were the only people not released from quarantine and everyone was out having fun. We were stuck in the apartment feeling mad, sad, tired, and just plain annoyed. All for good reason, but it was only 2:00 in the afternoon and there was no way I was going to spend the rest of my Saturday feeling this way. It was a beautiful day and all we wanted to do was go outside. We grab our phones and masks and drive to a nearby neighborhood park. The park is cute, but very small and not really something we were looking for. We wanted somewhere to release our steam at. Somewhere where we could run around and feel the refreshing September air. We were literally looking for nearby fields when Hannah suggested this place called High Bridge. It was a thirty minute drive, but I didn't care. This was our adventure and I was not looking to lay around anymore.
I thought the drive would be the best part.
It was the perfect time of day to drive for awhile. It was around 4:00, we had the windows down, and we were blasting country music. It felt so good to just drive. It was much needed. I was driving somewhere unfamiliar, but I did not care. I maneuvered my car on the windy roads as we got closer and closer to our destination. Hannah had her maps pulled up, but it took several dead ends to find where we should go. We ended up pulling into a parking lot with no other cars. I was doubting it the whole time, but Hannah encouraged me to just go with it. We could see the bridge, but we could not find a path or an entrance to get up there. Hannah found a hole in a fence that led up toward the bridge. We decide to hike up this hill that already seems real sketchy. Oh, also we were both in Birkenstocks because we thought we were just going to a park. We get up there and realize that we are in the right place.
It was the prettiest and scariest view I have ever seen.
I could not begin to explain to you how pretty the view was from the bridge. I was scared out of my mind because we were so high up, but as I was up there longer, my worries went away. This is what I needed. I needed to hang my feet off from a 300 foot bridge. I needed to be anywhere else, but my apartment. I never thought it would be on a bridge thirty minutes away. I never have felt more alive. Little did I know what would come next.
I did not mention that the bridge is also a train track.
Hannah and I are dumb and we did not really think a train would even come. We were chilling up there for about an hour and then we heard the horn of a train. I can not even describe to you the fear in our eyes. Hannah and I jump up and run five feet until we realize that we are not going to make it off the bridge. The train was already coming toward us at full speed. We sit back down and hold onto the railing which was the only separating ourselves from falling off of the bridge. I am not lying when I tell you that there were only five feet between us and the train. The only thing I was looking at was the train so I can see when it ends. The caboose comes insight and it is over. Hannah and I look at each other not knowing what to say. All we do is start laughing. That was the best thrill we have had in a while. Yes, we thought we were going to die. But, we did not. This was the best feeling I have had in such a long time. It is indescribable. It was scary, yet the most amazing feeling.
Take that leap into the unknown.
Do something you have never done before. Do something you are scared to do. The train story is a little extreme, and I would never suggest it, but it made me feel like I can do anything now. It made me want to take more chances. It made me not want to be scared anymore of anything. Step outside of your comfort zone. You will not regret it.
