A LITTLE PIECE OF HEAVEN
Paige Hull
DFW 1947-2004
As I mentioned in the previous post, Smoot and I have met some amazing people in Round Top. Many that seem like they will be life-long friends. One of those people is a super creative and very sweet woman named Donna. She seems heaven sent…for many reasons.
She told us about a bridge just outside of Round Top that we should take the kids to. She described it as an old, one-car bridge with a plaque on it that has the inscription "DFW 1947 - 2004". The story of the bridge seemed mystical. It was DFW's favorite spot to fish. Legend has it that he caught the biggest fish in the region. He spent many a day there. His family had the plaque made and attached the day they spread his ashes from "his" bridge.
If that story were not enough, a while back Donna began an equally mystical happening on that same bridge. She began hiding notes for others to find. When people began to hear about it, they would go to find them and hide their own notes in response.
Our children heard this story and began to imagine this “old fashion” communication system with no wires, cell towers, or buttons. They were intrigued, as were we. The first go round, we could not find the bridge. Not for lack of trying. We saw a lot of territory we had never seen before. Our daughter was understandably sad and disappointed when we informed her we were heading back home and would have to look for it the next time around.
Well, if you have children you will know that they do not remember to make their bed or fold their clothes but if something intrigues them…their memories are steel traps. As we anticipated, we were asked incessantly to try to find this magical bridge Miss Donna had told us about. Our next go at it, we found “the bridge”. It was more magical than we expected.
After exploring and taking in the beauty, it was off to the task of writing notes and figuring how to attach them to the bridge. We took our pictures and went on our way.
On our return to Round Top the next weekend, I prepared to explain that this “fable” would most likely not result in a note back. It was a neat fairy tale but not to be disappointed if our letters were still there. We drove up and saw our notes were still where they had been left. My heart sank as I had half bought into the story.
They both ran to look at them. When they began to scream and jump up and down, I had to take a step back. Upon closer inspection…there were new notes. One addressed to our daughter and one addressed to our son.
1488
Smoot and I could not believe it…nor could they. This wonderful “old fashioned” town had a pen-pal bridge with a plaque named after a man that caught the biggest fish in the region. I didn’t think we could love this town any more than we did…but I was wrong.