Member-only story
The Woman Who Feared Bridges…
Gephyrophobia
I do not fear all bridges. I fear the Robert Moses Causeway Bridge on Long Island. My fear of bridges did not recently begin. It began many years ago. I was driving home from college; I attended a commuter school. I was about halfway over the Marine Parkway Bridge when I was stopped. Construction was underway, and my lane was blocked.
I wasn’t going fast, but it was raining. I would not run over the worker flagging me; it was a passing thought. I stopped. I looked over at the water; it looked the same as the sky. Everything was the same grey color.
Fear engulfed me. A panic attack, not my first. I had no choice but to wait until I was directed to drive on. The water, the sky, the rain pounding my windshield… I took deep breaths. That was the origin of my bridge fears.
Years passed, and I found myself a passenger on many bridges; that was OK. My fear emerges when I am the driver. I was heading to the South Shore of Long Island, and I was driving on the Robert Moses Causeway bridge. I looked down at the water, and it seemed inches away from me.
Again, the paralyzing fear: this time the water would rise and wash over me. It could not be this close. I drove on… vowing never to be the driver on that bridge again.
