We are enjoying a bit of a January thaw, and it’s a good feeling! Portions of the rivers are flowing again. You can hear ice cracking away from the shores. It won’t last, of course, because . . . February. But while it’s here, we enjoy it. I wouldn’t chance a dip in the water just yet, though.
The temporary ice bridge between these two patches of land
has dissolved. I think ice bridges are
magical. They’re not like regular
bridges, are they? Regular bridges are
purposely placed by man so that we might travel from one area to another over a
region that is impossible to travel. The
constructed bridge makes it possible, and its construction is meant to be
permanent. Of course, people have to
want it. The manmade bridge has to
connect two popular places, two necessary places. There has to be a need for it.
 |
| The magical ice bridge, unmagicked. |
But the magical bridge is under no such constraints. The magical bridge forms wherever it
pleases. It does not always form in the
same place, and even when it does, no two magical bridges are the same. They are unique and must be appreciated for the
temporary magical things they are. A
magical ice bridge does not fulfill a need.
Indeed, sometimes the magical bridge is not used at all, but that
doesn’t stop it from forming. It forms
with abandon, beautiful planks of crystalline ice, shining and glowing,
stretching from one remarkably plain place to another.
Once the bridge is made, though, the magical connection
begins. Now the places are no longer
plain. Now they are connected by
something that begs to be crossed. There
must be a reason for it, although with magic, you never know. What seems reasonable to us is positively
ridiculous to magic, and vice versa.
“Cross over! Cross
over while you can!” said the Bering Strait, a
magical and temporary land bridge from about 15,000 years ago. And they did, and things have never been the
same. That’s what magical bridges do.
Do not worry about our lost little ice bridge as it will
rebuild again because . . . February.
Yes. That is the only thing
looming on the horizon now, and it blots out everything else. Magic will be much needed over the coming
month.
