The Bridge

Art therapy 

Draw a picture of a bridge and be sure to include yourself in the drawing.

Driving to work each morning, I consider my mood.  More recently it has been mostly "good."  My good may not be the same as it was before, but it is a good in comparison to how I have been feeling in the past year.  The realization that you are at a new spot on the grief journey is startling and hard to comprehend (even for me).  Today however, as I began my art therapy assignment, it all became a little clearer.

I used the Bixby Bridge as my inspiration for my drawing.  As you can clearly see, I have nearly reached the other side of the bridge.  The big hill, better known as Hurricane Point, is behind me.   It is sunny all around, and there is nothing but lovely sights to enjoy.  Even the bull, who is surrounded by a bed of colorful wildflowers, is happy.

Those who are familiar with the Big Sur International Marathon (BSIM) course, may understand this drawing will a bit more clarity.  Allow me to illustrate further. 

You may have read all about Hurricane Point on the marathon website.  If you’ve run this race, perhaps you tailored your training specifically for the purpose of conquering that hill.  When I ran this race, I did just that.  I went into the race confident that I could climb the hill successfully.

I did just that.  The Taiko drummers’ percussive beat helped me right up that hill.  The problem was, the race was not over yet.  There were MANY more ups and downs to go, and if you didn’t read about the race carefully you may have missed the key words that would indicate this. 

Well, I think of my grief journey is a lot like the BSIM race course.  In my drawing, you will see that I’ve conquered the first big challenge.  There will be many more challenges along the way however.  Some will be small, and others will be BIG. 

I need to prepare for a long journey – enjoying the enjoyable and keeping my endurance up for whatever is around the bend.