Okay, so tonight we went to see Ashley and Leah for a while. It was fun. Then we stopped off to see my sister at work for a few minutes before she got busy. It was about 11 o'clock when we left there to head home to my mom's house. Directly after the exit to get off to go to my mom's, traffic on the interstate was at a dead stop. I joked and told Trey they were people waiting to go on the new bridge tomorrow. We had a little chuckle. Then, when we got home, my mom said that they had closed off I-26 for the bridge tomorrow! Ummm, it wasn't even midnight yet, and you don't just close an interstate off like that! This traffic was a good fifteen miles back from downtown Charleston! That is just INSANE!!! We were thinking we might try to go see the bridge tomorrow...never mind! My mom said they are expecting about 5000 people for the invitation-only affair they are having at the bridge tomorrow, but they only have parking for 1000. That should be interesting! Guess we'll see it on a future trip!

So anyway, my stories of the bridge. Apparently, the smaller, Grace Memorial, bridge, used to be two-way traffic back in the day. Now, I would like to point out (and check what Julia wrote on the last post for further agreement) that in today's times, with our small cars, that bridge was hardly ever big enough for two lanes of traffic, going the same way, that is. Therefore, back in the days of hoopties and big ol' cars, the thought of going two ways on it is terrifying! My mom said that when she was little, she could literally stick her hand just barely out of the window and touch the passing cars! According to Wesley (re: his comment to the last post), our dad used to drag race on it. That's scary!

Now, well, I guess not anymore, but...it's only one-way, but still two lanes. I used to babysit over in Mt. Pleasant, so I actually got quite used to driving it for a while there, and it wasn't too scary to me. However, that was long after my first few experiences on it. Once, I went on a field trip to a park out in Mt. Pleasant, and we had to go over the newer bridge. We were on a funky school bus, which sucked enough as it was. To top that, it started to rain on the way there (which ended up cutting the trip short), and the roads were very slippery. Traffic was stopped on the bridge, and a kid behind me told me that there was a hole in it. He said that they didn't have anything to fix it with, so they just put some glass over it. That was all it took for me. I was terrified beyond belief! I was so convinced that we were too heavy to drive over that glass w/o breaking it, and we were going to fall into the water. Plus, I couldn't swim! This was in, like, second grade, and I still remember it like it was yesterday...

Yet another memory of the bridge is one night while I was out with some friends. Well, sorta...I was with Julia, my best, best, BEST friend, and our brothers, Micah and Jimmy. We had just dropped acid, and it was my first time (one of the very few, I might add). To top that, we were already at the Isle of Palms when we did it, and to get home, we had to go over the old bridge. I want to add that when the wind blows, not even hard, you can feel the old bridge move. I read today that on a scale of 1 to 100, 100 being the safest and most up to code, the new bridge was rated at a 4, and the new bridge was FAR, FAR better than the old one! Anyway, I digress...So we had to go over the bridge to get home, and I was driving. The acid was just starting to kick in for everyone, and our brothers were going NUTS in the back seat, screaming and singing and jumping around. It was particularly windy that night (or maybe it just seemed that way!), and it was the first time I'd ever driven over the bridge. We were listening to The Cranberries, and when we hit the bridge, we were listening to Zombie. Micah and Jimmy went crazy, as if they were in the band, playing a live concert in front of millions! I was not down with that. So I quickly changed it to one of the really slow and relaxing songs at the end of the CD, Dreaming My Dreams, and focused on staying calm. Julia sat in the front seat beside me and coached me! She kept saying, "Christi, you're doing really good. Just stay straight. Good job." Oh, and like Lillian in Julia's comment, I, too, drove right down the middle of the two lanes. Fortunately, there wasn't a cop at the end that night...that would have been pretty fun, eh? (As a matter of fact, for a long time I just thought you were allowed to drive down the middle at night!) In my mind it's quite funny, or something like that. Yet another memory that is like it happened yesterday for me!

Well, I guess this is enough for now. I could probably think of a bunch more, but I'll stop here. This is longer than I thought it would be. If you haven't already, feel free to add. I'm definitely going to miss those bridges. I have lots of memories from them. One day ask my neice what happens to little girls who are bad...she REALLY doesn't like the old bridge! Alright, you guys have a great day! Talk to you later.