Bridges

So, about 10 years ago I started having this reoccurring dream that went on for about 7 years (up until about 3 years ago.. give or take). Yeah, a long time. There was a bridge, and I was driving... this was in Toronto. It reminded my of the Lakeshore bridge at the base of South Kingsway where it goes over the Queensway and meets the Gardiner. Anyway, the bridge was out. Like, there was a giant hole where the bridge used to be. Like the middle part was missing. The beginning and the end were there, but no middle.

But the cars in front of me were all jumping it and getting on the highway like it was standard practice! Flows of cars, not just one or two, but all the cars were doing this. I pulled over to the side of the road before the bridge, feeling and knowing I couldn't jump it. I just couldn't jump it, and I sat on the side of the road for a bit and watched other cars pass and jump the bridge, continuing on their way.

It finally came up in conversation with my dad one night, and he interpreted it for me. He said that it was pretty clear to him that I was approaching a major challenge in life, and that I saw all the others around me succeeding with that challenge, moving forward within their desired direction, crossing that bridge. There are no instructions, no road or path on how to cross that bridge. You obviously feel you need to cross it, you just don't know how, and you see all the others around you doing it. I was stuck at the side of the road, unsure of how to go about jumping that bridge.

So, I haven't had this dream in a while, until last night when I had another similar dream, but about a very different bridge.

I was out with my family, we went to some restaurant downtown in some unknown, relatively large city. After dinner we had tickets for a play across town and decided to walk there. When we got there I realized that I had forgotten something very important at the restaurant... my camera, I think. I had to go back for it. Trying to make it back before the play started I blitzed out the door and started running back toward the restaurant. I remember trying to figure out a few shortcuts, but there really were none. I started running in straight lines directly toward the city bridge. This bridge was a bit different than the bridge that was out in the first cycle of dreams. This one was a honest to goodness drawbridge. It had before it a few red and green flashing lights, and a countdown, the kind of countdown you see at pedestrian crossing signals.

So yeah, it was starting to countdown. All the red lights around started flashing to stop. If I was going to get my camera in time to get back to the play on time, I had to make it.

I started sprinting faster, and started crossing the bridge. I made it to the middle just as the countdown hit zero. At the middle of the drawbridge there was a room, not unlike a control room, but for passengers. It reminded me sort of like a ferry, with vinyl bench seating organized row by row on either side like in a church, and with a separate room up front for the control captain. The door was open and he turned and said, "You barely made it!".

I said, "Yeah, but I wanted to get across the bridge before the countdown, to get to the other side!"

He said, "Well, that's not where you're going."

Ok.

So, I'm in this ferry like room on the middle of the bridge, perhaps a handful of strangers around me all sitting comfortably in the seats around me. I'm still standing in the aisle, a bit out of breath, but strangely comfortable and feeling secure despite knowing what came next; obviously the drawbridge had to go up.

The benches were like this, except arranged row by row with no table and not facing eachother. Big windows were there.

So, as I was standing the entire room obviously starts elevating. First, as you'd expect, the front of the room started going up. I didn't really stat to feel off balance or anything; counter-intuitively. Then something weird started happening. The room started to tilt and rotate to the left, while still front elevating, up to a 90 degree angle*.

*Take your left forearm and put it flat on the table infront of you. Slowly start elevating from the elbow, and as you're elevating slowly rotate your wrist so that your pinky finger moves downward toward the table.

Still feeling fairly comfortable on my feet (the others in the benches showed no sign of distress) but sort of like, wtf is happening? It was like I was slowly being transported. through the large cabin windows I saw our elevation above the water. In the distance there was a green park. It was not unlike the movie ending of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory, where Wonka, Charlie and Grandpa Joe go up the elevator that starts floating in the ski. No doubt i was feeling some apprehension, but also with the feeling that nothing was going wrong; i.e. everything going as planned/as it should.

The captain, seeming noticing my stumped face said with a smile, "Don't worry. Trust in the process."

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So, what does this all mean? Clearly this was a miracle. Sounds pretty hokey eh? Yeah, I hate listening to other people's dreams too, unless they involve me. Ok, that's not totally true. Anyway...