America, One Moment at a Time — #31

~ MMC 2.0

They Looked at All That Water and Thought BIG.

Getting off the boat, an old sailing ship at the jetty immediately caught our eye.

It looked wonderfully out of place among the buildings of modern New York. As though a little piece of another era had been left behind.

And then came something my wife had been looking forward to:

pretzels. 😄

She had been saying she wanted to try a real American pretzel, and there it was. A pretzel truck waiting for us.

Somewhere between the old ship and the pretzels, New York was already beginning to tell us something about itself.

Old and new seem perfectly comfortable together.

A little restaurant nearby made the point rather nicely. Almost quaint beneath the enormous buildings around it.

And then the scale changed completely.

The Brooklyn Bridge.

Completed in 1883.

I looked at its massive stone towers, the intricate cables and all that blue-grey steel stretching across the river.

And, as a first-time visitor, I had the obvious question:

Who looked at all that water and thought, “Let’s build a bridge”? 😄

Not just a bridge.

This bridge.

And they did it more than 140 years ago.

We drove across it, while I did my bit for the expedition by looking around in amazement. 😄

Then came the Manhattan Bridge, completed in 1909.

Another enormous structure.

Another century of history.

And suddenly, I wasn’t just looking at bridges.

I was looking at vision.

People who could stand beside a river, imagine something that wasn’t there, and then actually build it.

Perhaps that’s what humbled me most.

They looked at all that water and thought BIG.

And more than a century later, their big idea is still carrying people across.

Some bridges connect places.
The really remarkable ones connect us to the people who dared to imagine them.

Unknown's avatar

Published by MMC 2.0

Mohan Mathew Chacko is a multi-disciplinary freelance writer and one who runs the WORDSOUPS blog as if it’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened in the storytelling blogging world. From the time when he survived a near-death situation on a surgeon’s table, he considers this his second life and believes he is now a better version of his previous self. Nowadays he likes to be known as MMC 2.0 though no one else seems to care.

10 thoughts on “America, One Moment at a Time — #31”

  1. I’m glad your wife enjoyed her pretzel. Growing up in Pennsylvania and eating lots of pretzels, Auntie Anne’s pretzels are good, but they don’t live up to the pretzels you’d find around Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Then again, it may be that they taste better as a memory than what they actually were 😀

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    1. Thank you, Lynn! 😊 I love what you said about food tasting better as a memory. For my wife, that pretzel was a little taste of America. And now, I’m sure, a lovely memory too. ❤️

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Very nice. I enjoyed the writing and the pictures. Everyone is happy. I visited New York many years ago but it left an impression on me. Some good some bad, but mostly good. I visited there when I was a kid around 9 years old and stayed for 6 month in Woodside, Queens, NY. I think I liked Manhattan better but only because it was a lot more comfortable with relatives who I liked but more importantly liked me. My aunt bought me some roller skates, because at 9 years old it was something I still liked doing. I can say I was a kid in the 80’s roller skating through Queens and Manhattan like I owned the place. Fond memories mostly. Thanks for the vacation update ;)

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Thank you so much! 😊 I loved reading about your New York memories. Especially you roller-skating through Queens and Manhattan at nine, feeling like you owned the place! 😄 What a wonderful way to experience New York as a child. I’m glad my little vacation updates brought some of those memories back. ❤️

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you, Katelon. ❤️ I felt the same way. It’s easy to admire the beauty and engineering of those bridges and forget about the people who actually built them, often under incredibly difficult conditions. We owe them more than just our admiration. ❤️🙏🏻

      Like

    1. Thank you, Thomas! 😊 That old sailing ship is such a beautiful contrast to the modern city around it. And yes, the bridges were quite something. I found myself looking up almost as much as I was looking ahead! 😄🙏🏻

      Like

Thank you for reading! What did the story make you think or feel? I’d love to hear from you in the comments. 😊