Cathy's Bridge

"Cathy's Bridge Across Forever"

How long do memories last? Why do certain events stay with you and others seem
to fade?

I would think that the answer would be simple. The big things in life that
have an obvious impact on who you are today stay prominently at the fore front
in your mind. It could be a positive life changing moment or a tragic one.
That makes sense, but that just doesn't always apply.

I have a memory of a friend, a distant relative who stepped into my life and
left her footprint forever on my soul.
Oh, I certainly didn't see it that way at the moment. But there was something
about Cathy's smile that stayed with me forever.

We were just kids back then. I lived fairly sheltered in a punched out all
American community with sidewalks and corner grocery stores. Cathy lived in the
country. No, not some fancy development nestled in the hills just off the
interstate cleverly named "Rolling Meadows" or "Country Acres Estate."

Cathy lived in "Mud Run!" Now that's real country.

She was beautiful. The kind of beautiful, blonde country girl you'd see on a
post card or calendar. Her long straight hair passed her shoulders and hung
wonderfully on her thin body. I'll admit right here I was taken by her,
relative or not. But that's not what I remember so vividly. It was her smile.

I can't picture Cathy without one. Yet through the years there were tragic
things that should have left her with nothing to smile about. Yet the very last
time I saw Cathy was when I was in Alexandria, Virginia. I was in a band
traveling across America and Cathy visited me. She hadn't changed a bit. Not
expecting to meet anyone I knew on the road, I was stunned by her presence. I
regret we had little time to speak, but there she was renewing that image in my
mind that instantly took me back to Mud Run and my first ride on a horse.

I had never ridden a horse before. So I believe I became a prime city boy
target for this country beauty with a devilish smile. She told me the horse was
gentle and I had nothing to worry about. I accepted her invitation and for a
few minutes we strolled along the road way next to her home. Cathy walked along
side as I had visions of "Hop-a-long Cassidy" and "Roy Rogers" rushing through
my head. Then, without warning, Cathy raised her hand and smacked the horse on
the rear end.

Here is the image that has burned in my mind forever. I swear to you that I can
still see her laughing and almost dancing with joy as I rode off into the
sunset. Oh, not like Roy, or Hop-a-long. They were in rhythm with their
horses, galloping across creeks and up hill sides.

Me? When the horse went down, I went up. My backside met his saddle with a
smack every time. Cathy kept laughing. That is until I pulled the reins in a
manner only a city boy would.

"Stop! Whoa! Stop!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

She ran to catch up with us just as that old horse responded to my directions...
by backing up...to the edge of the road...that fell sharply down into the
meadow.

"Stop!" she screamed. "Drop the reins!" This was the only time I ever saw her
cry. The tears ran down her face as she grabbed for the horse. We were a foot
away from backing and perhaps rolling down the embankment.

Cathy saved the day. Of course once I got off shaking and stuttering, she began
to laugh again, hysterically.

Many years later, at a young age, with so much life lived, in much too short a
time, Cathy passed away. I still don't completely understand what took her from
a world that needed her so badly. But she is gone.

On Saturday I revisited that spot. We were invited to help celebrate the 50th
wedding anniversary of her parents. I couldn't remember a thing about the trip
there. Nothing at all seemed familiar, that is until we came to the crest of
the hill. I parked my car and as my family came to greet us, I stood in the
roadway looking back at that same spot.

"Marianne, this is it. Here's the hill and that's the spot where I was about to
tumble with the horse. That is until Cathy saved me."

All day long as we ate and laughed with family and shared in this joyous event,
I kept looking out across the yard to the hill. At any moment I expected her to
come around the corner smiling that smile that melted my heart for decades. I
knew that could never happen.

But I was wrong.

As I stood upon the newly built deck that had been added recently, I listened
to the beautiful sounds of Andrea Boccelli echoing along the mountain sides and
down across the creek that ran right next to their home. I walked across to the
far end of the deck. Connecting the house to the opposite side of the creek was
a newly built covered walking bridge. Throughout the day I had crossed that
bridge many times, but I never noticed it until then.

The music playing in the background, the sun beaming down through the trees, a
light breeze gently kissing my face, I leaned over the railing and I saw these
words..."Cathy's Bridge Across Forever." Her family had placed those words
there in her memory. My heart pounding I called to my wife and my
sister-in-law, Marie, her Aunt.

"Marie. Did you know this was here?" I asked.

As taken back by it as I was, Marie, softly said "No, I didn't" All three of us
stood speechless and as I looked down across the creek, as clearly as I could
see those words, Cathy's face was there before me.

Now I understood why I could not forget her. It was her smile that connected
you to her. Her smile was "Cathy's Bridge Across Forever."

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