OVER THE BRIDGE
It’s us versus them. Us on this side and them on the other side.
I’m not talking about politics or ideologies; I could write a tome about that subject! I’m talking about the bridge.
My town is divided by a river, a natural feature that separates the two sides. We call the sides the beachside and the mainland. For years, I lived on one side of the bridge and worked on the other side. I didn’t think much about my daily trips over and back. But that was then.
Now that I work and live on the same side of the river, making a trip across the bridge seems like traveling to another country. I make lists and map out my route for my “over-the-bridge” days. And on many days, I don’t go across at all; the effort just seems too great. I had a friend tell me once that she saw no reason – ever - to travel outside her zip code! I’ll drive five miles down the Atlantic Highway rather than trek a mile and a half across the bridge. I’ll ask myself, “Do I need it or want it?”
Whenever I think about a need versus a want, I remember my friend and her cranberry sofa. My friend really wanted a beautiful bright red sofa. She didn’t need a new sofa; she wanted a new sofa. She clipped out a picture from a special-order catalog and stuck it on her fridge. It was all she could talk about—everyone knew how much she loved that sofa!
And then her husband posed the question, “Is it a need? Or is it a want?”
For him, there was a big difference. Maybe he didn’t want to pay for it, or maybe he didn’t appreciate the importance of a good sofa!
When we were kids, most of our furniture was used and handed down from a family member or bought at the DI—short for Deseret Industries—the name of the thrift store in town. I remember when my grandmother gave us her burnt orange sofa. That orange sofa had been in Grandma’s “special” sitting room. As kids, we knew it was off limits, and just to make sure, Grandma had it covered with plastic. Covering your sofa with plastic never appealed to me until just the moment when I think plastic might be the solution to my dog problem. You see, my dogs have turned our yard into a dirt racetrack. After running a few laps, they bound inside and make a beeline straight for the sofa. Nah … plastic still isn’t for me!
Anyway, the burnt orange sofa made it to my parents’ house, and we loved it. Grandma showed me how to flip the cushions over to reveal the “Henredon” label, which meant it was very expensive. It was perhaps the most expensive thing in our house. Years later, when I left home and moved out on my own, I took the orange sofa and promptly recovered it. Another wise friend once told me that you should never cover a sofa in anything that isn’t a shade of beige. This has turned out to be very good advice.
And I now see that there are some things that are a need and a want. Like seeing friends or attending a wedding or a special event. I still make my list and plan my route, but some weeks I have several over -the-bridge days.