30 For Thursday: The Bridge

[The Stage is on Fire] is a page-turner in which, much like life, there are no easy answers and yet each step of the journey yields insight and hope. This work of heart must not be missed!

Melanie Faith

Creative Writing Teacher, Essayist & Poet.

Katie Steedly’s first-person piece [The Unspeakable Gift] is a riveting retelling of her participation in a National Institutes of Health study that aided her quest to come to grips with her life of living with a rare genetic disorder. Her writing is superb.

The Society of Professional Journalists

In recognition of receiving the Dateline Award for the Washingtonian Magazine essay, The Unspeakable Gift.

I thank you … It is the authenticity of your “class notes”; and it is the delicacy and skill with which you present the nuances of classroom life and the actuality of your students’ and fellow teachers’ lives.

Maxine Greene

Philosopher and Education Scholar

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30 For Thursday: The Bridge

I ran 6 miles Sunday morning. My route took me over the Rickenbacker Causeway – a bridge so formidable local runners call it “Goliath.”

I had not run the bridge for months. My “long runs” have stopped at the base of the bridge, about 4.5 miles from our apartment. Perhaps the pandemic has left me questioning my strength? Perhaps the summer heat has left me questioning running all together? Perhaps the steel I have felt in the past is really more like lead? Whatever my hesitancy, I decided this Sunday would be different.

I left the apartment armed with headphones, sunglasses, GU energy packs, water, and Gatorade. I felt strong the first two and a half miles. I arrived at the base of the bridge. I did not stop or even really look up. I took a breath and kept going. My eyes fixed forward, but for the brief moment I looked at downtown Miami to my left and Biscayne Bay to my right. I did not slow down on the bridge. I am stronger than that. I know to lean in.

The turn around to run 6 miles is at the base of the bridge. That means going up the bridge, going down the bridge, turning right around, and doing it all again. Don’t slow down. Just keep going. Don’t slow down. Just keep going. Don’t slow down. Just keep going. The bridge ended and I had 2 quick miles to go to get home (across another, thankfully flat, bridge). Through a banyan canopy. Between luxury homes, hotels, and high rises. Searching for the breeze. I made it home.

Running the bridge teaches me a few things. It teaches me, as Glennon Doyle suggests, we can do hard things. It teaches me the power of humility and quiet strength and forgiveness. It teaches me to care for myself so that I am ready for whatever life presents. It teaches me the importance of goals and vision. It teaches me to look for beauty and encounter wonder in my world even when I am running Goliath.

Read Gratitude Conversations Volume V – Gratitude and Change here.

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