Sweet moments with Ms. B

Every time I get near a structure of any type, whether a monument, a building or a superstructure, I feel some kind of connection, like magnetism… as if it is communicating to me and endearing me to it closer like a person. I cannot explain exactly why but it seems there is a need for me connect to it too, in any way I can. Like… a bridge! For me, a bridge is truly a bridge as its name denotes! It bridges me to an open field that somewhere out there opportunity awaits thus allowing my inner self to indulge with it like I am having some kind of connection from my current settings /situation to the other. It simply enthrals me and put me into some kind of a spell.

My first encounter with a bridge was when I was five 5 years old, in one corner here in Cebu City. I was already in first grade and we (my sister together with my two older brothers) liked to walk down to school using the only shortcut @ the back across it but a big pond was in between. So we traversed that little bridge made of only two (not four) bamboo poles, bonded together with a smooth steel wire-long enough to hold it still for a long period of time- in every foot distance. It had a rail on one side only, also made of bamboo for our hands to hold on to while walking on it. It was suspended more than a foot up from the mud with huge water lilys sprouting all over. I think that bridge was a little over four (4) meters long. We had great times with it. I almost fell one time when I was hurrying up too fast and my left foot slid down; but I did mange to get a grip on the railing and continued my journey to school with dry shoes! It was really fun.

Today, I am in an island with two bridges! This time it isn’t made of bamboo but tempered steel with huge pre-stressed concrete for support and cable on its sides. Isn’t that just fantastic!

First stop : Mandaue-Mactan Bridge. This bridge is quite dear to me because my dad and my two elder brothers were among the many bridge builders (erectors as they are called) employed then to fit those rivets in. It was the first to be built (1973) thus the name and it allowed progress to step into Mactan more easily and freely. It was said that a bridge lasts a lifetime depending on whose lifetime it started and considering some minor renovations /repairs are taken into account every so often.

The next one is the Marcelo H. Fernan Bridge- in honor of our chief justice of cebuano descent. It is located just a little over to the North (Pusok) but barely two kilometers away from the first one. This bridge carries long cables to support it from both sides as most suspension bridges do anywhere else.

Bridges! They simply amaze me all the time! It enables me to breath more freely and cherish this (almost) perfect life i'm having to the max! These huge but gentle structures sit on peaceful waters across the channel, joining two great cities :Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue, sending off messages of camaraderie, freedom and...love perhaps?