The View from a Drawbridge

Tag: heart attack

  • Baby Steps

    “If you don’t start exercising and lower your cholesterol, you’re going to have a heart attack or a stroke.” This, from my doctor. My heart sank. We’re talking major lifestyle change, here. You see, I used to have this amazing body. I mean, a killer, slammin’, take-no-prisoners type of body. Until I was 28 years…

  • How Soon We Forget

    I used to work the graveyard shift at the Ortega River Drawbridge in Jacksonville, Florida. It was usually a quiet shift, and that’s the way I liked it. I’m not someone who thrives on drama. But there was a certain ebb and flow to that shift: people who jogged at the same time every day;…

  • Bearing Witness

    When you are a bridgetender for any length of time, you start to notice certain patterns on the river, both human and animal. For instance, the crab fishermen come to empty their pots every morning at exactly the same time. You can set your watch by them. Certain joggers run by at specific times as…

  • I am Officially Doomed

    After 12 years of working crazy shifts here on the drawbridge, often two or three different shifts in the space of a week, I’m now discovering that there is an official name for my constant state of mental fog, my messed up immune system, and my apparent inability to lose weight despite all efforts. It’s…