Everyday I drive from Nashville to Gallatin on good ol' I-65 North and right after I pass the exit ramp for Rosa Parks Blvd I go under a bridge and I see my friend. "The Man under the Bridge". I only call him that because clearly I don't know his name. Yet.. Anyway when I pass it seems to be the time he is waking up. He is usually holding on to one of the bars under the bridge stretching his back as you would when you wake up in the am. In driving by it appears that he has been there for a while. The Cement blocks under the bridge, which appears to be his shelving in his under the bridge abode has a collection of various items he probably has accumulated for the days, months, years who knows, that he has been "homeless". I don't wanna say homeless because he appears to have made this bridge his home. He's got a bedroom another area to hang out and relax. All he is missing is a TV and an Xbox and it would probably be a pretty str8 spot to chill.
Anyway for whatever reason today I have not been able to get "The man under the Bridge" out of my head. I went through a thought process of various thoughts like, "I wonder what happened." Like did he have a family and they all pass away, does he still have family that doesn't want him, doesn't respect him, doesn't know he is even alive. Was he an alcoholic a drug addict that chose addiction over the simple amenities that we all take for granted like a shower, brushing our teeth, sleeping in a normal bed. Or was he a multi-millionaire with a gambling problem that lost every dime and all the "friends" he had when he had $ all disappeared and no longer gave a fuck when he had nothing for them. Maybe he doesn't want any of the, what we call "normal" things and he feels like he is living like a king in his own right.
I wondered how he felt, was he healthy, did he have health issues. I mean he is probably my fathers age, a heavier set black man, white beard. What if he died, under that bridge. Who anyone care, would anyone know, how long would he lay there before he was found. Would he even be in the newspaper like others when they die.
