Overpass

a crazy thing happened on my way to work today.

see, it started off as any other day. get up, shower, get dressed, feed dog, kiss wife goodbye, get in car, drive to work, etc. only, on that drive to work, something happened. i was driving along as i do every other day, listening to the radio, navigating moderate workday traffic, thinking about what meetings, projects and goals i had to accomplish, etc. when suddenly, something was different. i spotted someone walking toward my car. sounds fairly common, i know, except for the fact that i wasn't driving down a normal city street...i was on the highway...and an overpass at that.

i had reached the summit of a very large interchange and was driving along when suddenly i saw a person, a young man, walking up the overpass from the direction i was traveling towards...and i immediately felt uncomfortable about that. why would someone be walking up a large, traffic-filled overpass? out of gas was the only sane explanation that popped into my head, but that was quickly washed away because there are no gas stations on the top of an overpass ramp.

the alternative option kept flashing in my head, but i didn't want to think about that outcome...i did everything i could not to look back and not to ponder. i turned the radio up, in an attempt to drown out my own thoughts. i distracted myself as best i could with radio programs and music all the way to the office. once at work, i sought other distractions to divert my conscience from what i had most likely been a part of. a coworker arriving a few minutes later confirmed my sorrowful thoughts...the young man who had just minutes before walked past my moving car was no more. my coworker said "did you hear that someone jumped from..." that's all he had to say... i knew... it was a long way down.