Nashville had the most perfect weather this weekend! Warm sunshine and blue skies lifted everyone’s spirits as we went about our business. I left work with no coat and a light heart on Sunday evening. The setting sun threw shadows across the hills, but the sky was still blue and I realized: I have enough time for an adventure.
Searching the internet for “scenic drives in Nashville” brought up Natchez Trace Parkway, a long historic road stretching all the way to Mississippi. Originally it was a settler’s route through heavily forested land, but now in modern times, it’s a highway with beautiful scenic portions. One of those pristine spots is just outside Nashville.
Nashville is a small city and it’s easy to leave the noisy city behind. Before long I found myself in the country, driving past stately homes and farms, peaceful in the cool early spring evening.
Then I saw the bridge: the Natchez Trace Parkway Bridge. This stunning architectural masterpiece spans the huge valley below it, both physically enormous and stylistically elegant. Later I discovered the bridge won design awards in 1995. The view from the top of the bridge overlooking the valley is just stunning… and I was there in time for the sunset.
Beauty is rarely undiluted by the world’s ills, and the Natchez Trace Parkway Bridge is no different. Before stepping onto the bridge, signs tell you there’s still hope and provide a suicide hotline number. How sad is it to think that someone may visit this scenic view not to find inspiration for their life, but to end it? As many have fallen from the bridge to the road far below, I like to think that many others, like myself, have instead flown… mentally, if not physically. The beauty, the freedom, the height, the wind all put thoughts of flight in my head. It’s a wide-open place that makes me wish for a hang glider or a squirrel suit. Landing, you say? Oh, I’m sure it would be a slow descent, I would figure it out.
From the 150-foot view of the valley, I hope visitors to this bridge find new perspective not only on the valley road they were driving seconds ago, but also on their lives, their day-to-day existence, their struggles. I hope they defy the gravity that weighs us all down and instead are able to soar long enough to take in the big-picture beauty of our world.
~ The Dauntless Princess ~