Remember what it’s like to visit downtown for the first time and feeling like it’s just too cool, too exciting and too busy to ever enjoy and appreciate it for all it is? There just isn’t enough time to do it all! Like, this is movie star stuff? Well, if you haven’t felt that way, that’s cool. You’re probably not amused easily or just too cool for school.

 I’ll admit it though… downtown made me feel excited and I geeked out over stuff like double decker buses (hee hee I said double decker), and taxis, and big buildings, street food, festivals, all that cool stuff! I liked going to the big festivals, but felt anxious about parking and having cash (why is it such an anxious feeling to get cash? I mean, all I have to do is go to an ATM. So what if the fee is a couple of bucks? I pay that much for Hubba Bubba all the time…)

Well anyways, I am getting to a point here. The point is, this very bridge that I took a picture at used to give me the butterflies and the chills and the big city feeling like I am actually doing something cool and exciting. The day of this picture, I was elated about my day. Now, I ride my bicycle across this bridge over and over and over again, and sometimes I don’t even stop to look at the kayakers. I don’t see what new graffiti is on the rusty old bridge. I don’t stop to take pictures, and I don’t get the feeling like I am doing something new and exciting. The reason why this picture means so much to me is because I remember hearing the train going across the tracks and I thought it was so awesome to watch the train and how it felt to be downtown. I was so grateful that I was in this city finally and for good. I guess I cycled the butterflies out of my system.