[Music]
I remember when I was six years old my
parents took me to see the Brooklyn
Bridge and we’re seeing in the bridge
and I remember seeing a huge bridge all
of the steel structures and I asked my
parents like how did the bridge get
built I was so little the bridge was so
big and I couldn’t imagine how people
could build the bridge so we walked over
to the plaques and we were reading the
information and I just remember thinking
like how did the humans build this
bridge and make it possible for people
on one side of the bridge to get to the
other side and I was always truly
fascinated with that I was fascinated at
how we could build such a structure and
how such a structure could create such
an ease of access from one side of the
town or a city to another I think that’s
where the fascination began with bridges
fast forward about 30 years I wake up
one day and and I realized that I have
this goal and I kind of called it a life
goal because I don’t like the term
bucket list I just wanted to be my life
goal to walk over ten of the most
amazing bridges in the world with ten
people that I love and I don’t even know
where it came from
I just have always loved bridges and so
I started writing down like what I
wanted that to be and what that looked
like and it was really just simple I had
a couple of rules
first of all whoever I walked the bridge
with the person that I loved it had to
be just me and that person it wasn’t
like me my sister and then my nephew and
niece and my brother-in-law but just me
and my sister
the second rule was it had to be a
bridge that had something very majestic
or phenomenal about it I wanted to kind
of replicate that same experience that I
felt that day on the Brooklyn Bridge the
third rule was it had to be a bridge
that neither me nor the other person had
ever walked across so of course it had
to be walkable as well and then lastly I
wanted each of those ten bridges to be a
bridge
neither one of us had it walked over but
also in a country that that we hadn’t
been and walked over a bridge so with
those conditions
I miss hunt to just write down all these
bridges and try to come up with a kind
of dislike hit list of bridges and I got
into contact with the ten people most of
the people were in my family and started
kind of pairing people up with bridges I
also gave myself ten years to complete
this goal and the very first bridge that
I walked I decided to walk with my dad
now my dad served in the Vietnam War in
Korea on the DMZ and he he ended up
getting a sort of an agent orange it’s
kind of a dioxide poisoning that affects
his skin and paired up with his diabetes
it’s caused him a lot of health problems
and made it hard for him to walk so when
I was thinking about the the first
bridge that I would walk I knew that
that bridge was going to be with my dad
and it was going to be in the United
States so I chose the Golden Gate Bridge
and my dad lives in LA so I flew into LA
and I picked my dad up and we took the
big Trek all the way from LA to San
Francisco and when we got there six and
a half hours later I had that same
feeling I’m standing on the bridge and
there with my dad and I was like wow
this bridge it’s so amazing and majestic
and the funny thing kind of happened
along the way my dad my dad in like the
last 20 years has not really been that
responsive to our family it’s it’s been
a little bit of a rough relationship
with me my sister and my brother and I
found that spending that time with my
dad on the drive up gave us this
opportunity to have conversations that
but we really never had so we’re driving
up and we get there and we’re both
pretty amazed now my dad also when I
pulled up to his house he had a walker
which I didn’t know about and so my dad
gets out he has his Walker and I’m so
excited I’m not even thinking about
logistics like maybe taking some water
to walk over the bridge or snack so
maybe how the weather conditions are I’m
just like let’s cross the bridge so we
set out to walk over it and we’re going
along and my dad’s just scooting on his
Walker he’s just going really quick and
we’re about halfway across and I’m like
how long is this bridge I turn around
and look and we’re you know it’s about
the same distance back as it is forward
and I realized that the bridge is over
three miles roundtrip
my dad’s starting to wear down a little
bit by the time I got to the other side
of the bridge my dad was completely
dehydrated and we had no water so I
asked him if he just wanted to turn
around and go back and and he absolutely
was like no way we came to walk a bridge
or walking a bridge so we get to the
other side of the bridge my dad is
absolutely dehydrated and he says he’s
gonna run to the restroom so while we’re
in the parking lot I’m looking around
and I’m asking people hey um can I get
some water can I get some water I
literally felt like a homeless person
like begging for water and I finally
come across this lady and I see that she
has two kids in the car and I figured if
anybody had water probably be her so I
walk up to this lady and ask her for
some some water and I say hey can I get
some water and she goes like she looks
at me like why why are you asking me for
water and I was thinking oh she thinks
it’s for me like if I’m just begging her
for water and it couldn’t have been
better timing I was like no it’s not for
me it’s for my and then as soon as I
pointed over to where my dad was he was
coming out of the restroom and he just
looked horrible his face was sunken in
very dehydrated red and she was like oh
my gosh she takes the water here take it
and like are you sure and she’s like yes
please
I can I can drive and get more water so
I give my dad the water and we’re
hanging out and you know this thing that
would have taken any other two people
maybe you know an hour at most to walk
all the way across and walk back took my
dad and I a couple hours but
what I realize along this way and along
this journey is we we started having
conversations that I just never thought
we would engage in things about my
childhood
things that happened in our family and
by the time we made it back across the
bridge and we got in the car my dad said
to me you know I think it would be
really cool for our family could have a
family call so I I couldn’t do it that
weekend but I told him from the
following weekend I could and we hopped
on a call we all hopped on Skype and my
dad actually got on the call and the
first thing that he said to me my sister
and my brother when we got on he said I
just really want to apologize to you
guys for how I’ve how I’ve been acting
towards you I’m basically your whole
life and he kind of went on to say that
when my dad and my mom got divorced that
he just he became really bitter and
angry and he just feels like he took it
out on us and and you know in the coming
years it was really weird when I walked
over the bridge and when I when I first
had this idea to walk ten bridges with
ten people that I loved I never actually
thought I never actually thought what
would come out of it it just was this
idea that didn’t really mean anything I
mean I come up with ideas all the time
that’s what I do I’m a marketing person
and I execute sometimes I execute on
ideas and I don’t even know why I’m
doing it I just like oh I have this idea
I’m gonna do it I realize after I walked
the bridge with my dad that something
amazing happen and there was something
so metaphorical from walking over this
humongous bridge it’s like we started
off on one side
and we were able to cross over all of
these things that had happened in our in
our lives and and the conversation just
kept going on as we were walking across
and I felt like even you know
metaphorically we left some things on
the other side of the bridge and you
know we didn’t we didn’t really bring
them back we we just wanted to come back
with a better you know better outlook
better attitude and you know this was my
first bridge and the second bridge that
I decided to walk was with somebody that
I was in a really close relationship
with and we set out to walk over this
bridge in Korea when we were walking
over it I remember I remember the
feeling that I had this is somebody that
I was in a long-term relationship with
that I thought I was going to marry and
I remember when we were walking over the
bridge I had that same feeling I I felt
like we were on one side and as we were
crossing we were having these
conversations but this time as the
conversations went on I realized that we
had had deeper conversations than that
deep conversations that we had never had
before and as I was walking over I felt
this like empty sad feeling and I and I
knew deep down in my heart that this
person really wasn’t right for me to
marry so we walked over the bridge came
back and about a month later I ended up
calling off the relationship and in
hindsight we became you know really good
friends after and we just both kind of
realized it it wasn’t the right thing so
I started seeing this pattern with
walking bridges with people that every
time I walked a bridge with somebody
something came out of it and it’s really
hard to tell sometimes whether
something’s good or something’s bad
because you never know the consequences
of either around that time one of my
friends came up to me and said
hey I see on Facebook and social media
that you’ve been walking bridges with
people and I and I think it’s really
cool but how come I can’t be in your
tent or you know what actually I don’t
even have to be in your tent why can’t I
be in your like tier two and I thought
that was funny but and I and I said you
know what that’s actually a good idea
but I’m not gonna put anybody in a tier
two so I then had this other idea that I
would walk bridges with other people
that I cared about and I just wouldn’t
make it follow the same rules as the
original ten of being in different
countries and whatnot so shortly after I
decided I was gonna do that I found
myself in Toronto Canada I was there
working for one of my clients and I had
a day off and decided that I was gonna
wha I was gonna trek and walk over to
Niagara Falls and cross over and check
it out from both the US and the Canada
side and I ended up going to the bus and
I’m waiting in line for the bust and
Eiger Falls and this guy comes up and
taps me on the shoulder and says hey is
this the this the bus to go to Niagara
Falls I turn around and I said well I
hope so because that’s what I’m that’s
what I’m trying to do this guy’s name
was Pietro he was from Milano Italy and
I’m half Italian so immediately we kind
of like struck this conversation oh and
also we were the only two people waiting
in line that were like there by
ourselves everybody else was there with
family so we kind of struck this
conversation and we found out we had so
many things in common he worked for an
ad agency
I owned a marketing company you know he
lived in Italy my family’s from Italy
I’m half Italian
but we also realized that you know as
part of our conversation we realized
that we had kind of a similar upbringing
even though we were in two different
countries so we ended up walking over
Niagara Falls and hanging out over there
and it hit me while I was with them that
day I said you know what I should ask
him if he wants to walk a bridge with me
and even though he’s a total stranger I
think it would be a really cool
experience so I asked him I said hey you
want to Malkovich’s me and he said yeah
you know what that’s actually kind of a
cool
idea so we got up the next day we took
an uber to this bridge and as we were
walking across it
another idea hit me I thought wow with
the other two experiences that I’ve had
on bridges why don’t I try to kind of
intentionally replicate what I had done
before so when we were about halfway
across I said to Pietro you know what
Pietro there’s something that happened
to me when I was a young girl that I’ve
like literally like maybe two people in
the whole world know about I’ve really
never told anybody and it was kind of a
terrible thing and you know what I’m
gonna tell you about it and what I
really want to do is I kind of want to
leave that memory and and all the pain
and everything that went with that over
on the other side now you don’t have to
tell me anything I just I just feel like
I want to do this and so he was like
cool we got to the other side and
telling him this the secret that I had
and he was really awesome about it and
we chatted a little bit and and then he
said you know what I want to tell you
something when I was 13 years old my
brother died he died in a horrific car
accident and at the time my parents
really wanted me to go and view the body
and I didn’t want to I didn’t I didn’t
want to say my goodbyes and I spent the
next eight years of my life regretting
that decision so on my 21st birthday I
ended up going I ended up going to his
grave and and I and it promised my
brother one thing see my brother always
wanted to travel the world and he never
got that opportunity and so I promised
him from that day on that every day of
my life I was going to live and do the
things that he never got to do
and it was really funny because I
actually met him doing that thing he was
traveling the world by himself for his
brother oh my gosh it touched me in such
a way I couldn’t explain it and I felt
like I had known Pietro my entire life
so we left that day and I asked him I
said hey if you ever travel your way all
the way to Portland Oregon in the United
States please come see me and he
promised you know that if he did he
would about six months later I get a
message from Pietro on Facebook saying
hey I’m coming to Portland he ended up
coming to Portland and we walked a
bridge in Portland and the last thing
that we did before he left Portland was
we promised each other that that through
this experience that we had in Toronto
and in the six months that we got to
know each other over social media I mean
honestly we had only spent maybe a
couple hours together personally we
promised each other that what we were
going to do is we were going to walk ten
more bridges with strangers
intentionally walk them with strangers
and then a year later we were going to
walk a third bridge together so that’s
kind of what I’m in the middle of right
now I’ve walked now with two other
strangers and every time I walk the
bridge I try to intentionally have a
conversation with them maybe it’s
something I’m feeling at the moment like
I need to get over or it’s something I
need to get off my chest or sometimes
this I feel like I’m just being an ear
for something that they’re going through
and with each situation it’s been this
incredible connection this incredible
connection that I never would have
gotten if I wouldn’t have intentionally
set out to walk a bridge and have this
bridge conversation with people so what
I really want what I really want to do
is inspire people to do a movement of
walking bridges trying to bridge
anywhere it doesn’t matter it can be a
little you know pedestrian footbridge
it’s really just the metaphorical
representation of intentionally taking a
relationship that you have whether it be
bleeped stranger or somebody that you
know and you love and and maybe it’s to
repair their relationship maybe it’s to
talk about something that needs to be
talked about but I would encourage you
to to find your own bridge and and walk
with somebody if you do I I think what
you’ll find is that you’ll bridge more
than just the gap in the distance that
you physically watch you’ll bridge that
same gap and distance in your life and
in your relationships so go find your
bridge and go walk it
I remember when I was six years old my
parents took me to see the Brooklyn
Bridge and we’re seeing in the bridge
and I remember seeing a huge bridge all
of the steel structures and I asked my
parents like how did the bridge get
built I was so little the bridge was so
big and I couldn’t imagine how people
could build the bridge so we walked over
to the plaques and we were reading the
information and I just remember thinking
like how did the humans build this
bridge and make it possible for people
on one side of the bridge to get to the
other side and I was always truly
fascinated with that I was fascinated at
how we could build such a structure and
how such a structure could create such
an ease of access from one side of the
town or a city to another I think that’s
where the fascination began with bridges
fast forward about 30 years I wake up
one day and and I realized that I have
this goal and I kind of called it a life
goal because I don’t like the term
bucket list I just wanted to be my life
goal to walk over ten of the most
amazing bridges in the world with ten
people that I love and I don’t even know
where it came from
I just have always loved bridges and so
I started writing down like what I
wanted that to be and what that looked
like and it was really just simple I had
a couple of rules
first of all whoever I walked the bridge
with the person that I loved it had to
be just me and that person it wasn’t
like me my sister and then my nephew and
niece and my brother-in-law but just me
and my sister
the second rule was it had to be a
bridge that had something very majestic
or phenomenal about it I wanted to kind
of replicate that same experience that I
felt that day on the Brooklyn Bridge the
third rule was it had to be a bridge
that neither me nor the other person had
ever walked across so of course it had
to be walkable as well and then lastly I
wanted each of those ten bridges to be a
bridge
neither one of us had it walked over but
also in a country that that we hadn’t
been and walked over a bridge so with
those conditions
I miss hunt to just write down all these
bridges and try to come up with a kind
of dislike hit list of bridges and I got
into contact with the ten people most of
the people were in my family and started
kind of pairing people up with bridges I
also gave myself ten years to complete
this goal and the very first bridge that
I walked I decided to walk with my dad
now my dad served in the Vietnam War in
Korea on the DMZ and he he ended up
getting a sort of an agent orange it’s
kind of a dioxide poisoning that affects
his skin and paired up with his diabetes
it’s caused him a lot of health problems
and made it hard for him to walk so when
I was thinking about the the first
bridge that I would walk I knew that
that bridge was going to be with my dad
and it was going to be in the United
States so I chose the Golden Gate Bridge
and my dad lives in LA so I flew into LA
and I picked my dad up and we took the
big Trek all the way from LA to San
Francisco and when we got there six and
a half hours later I had that same
feeling I’m standing on the bridge and
there with my dad and I was like wow
this bridge it’s so amazing and majestic
and the funny thing kind of happened
along the way my dad my dad in like the
last 20 years has not really been that
responsive to our family it’s it’s been
a little bit of a rough relationship
with me my sister and my brother and I
found that spending that time with my
dad on the drive up gave us this
opportunity to have conversations that
but we really never had so we’re driving
up and we get there and we’re both
pretty amazed now my dad also when I
pulled up to his house he had a walker
which I didn’t know about and so my dad
gets out he has his Walker and I’m so
excited I’m not even thinking about
logistics like maybe taking some water
to walk over the bridge or snack so
maybe how the weather conditions are I’m
just like let’s cross the bridge so we
set out to walk over it and we’re going
along and my dad’s just scooting on his
Walker he’s just going really quick and
we’re about halfway across and I’m like
how long is this bridge I turn around
and look and we’re you know it’s about
the same distance back as it is forward
and I realized that the bridge is over
three miles roundtrip
my dad’s starting to wear down a little
bit by the time I got to the other side
of the bridge my dad was completely
dehydrated and we had no water so I
asked him if he just wanted to turn
around and go back and and he absolutely
was like no way we came to walk a bridge
or walking a bridge so we get to the
other side of the bridge my dad is
absolutely dehydrated and he says he’s
gonna run to the restroom so while we’re
in the parking lot I’m looking around
and I’m asking people hey um can I get
some water can I get some water I
literally felt like a homeless person
like begging for water and I finally
come across this lady and I see that she
has two kids in the car and I figured if
anybody had water probably be her so I
walk up to this lady and ask her for
some some water and I say hey can I get
some water and she goes like she looks
at me like why why are you asking me for
water and I was thinking oh she thinks
it’s for me like if I’m just begging her
for water and it couldn’t have been
better timing I was like no it’s not for
me it’s for my and then as soon as I
pointed over to where my dad was he was
coming out of the restroom and he just
looked horrible his face was sunken in
very dehydrated red and she was like oh
my gosh she takes the water here take it
and like are you sure and she’s like yes
please
I can I can drive and get more water so
I give my dad the water and we’re
hanging out and you know this thing that
would have taken any other two people
maybe you know an hour at most to walk
all the way across and walk back took my
dad and I a couple hours but
what I realize along this way and along
this journey is we we started having
conversations that I just never thought
we would engage in things about my
childhood
things that happened in our family and
by the time we made it back across the
bridge and we got in the car my dad said
to me you know I think it would be
really cool for our family could have a
family call so I I couldn’t do it that
weekend but I told him from the
following weekend I could and we hopped
on a call we all hopped on Skype and my
dad actually got on the call and the
first thing that he said to me my sister
and my brother when we got on he said I
just really want to apologize to you
guys for how I’ve how I’ve been acting
towards you I’m basically your whole
life and he kind of went on to say that
when my dad and my mom got divorced that
he just he became really bitter and
angry and he just feels like he took it
out on us and and you know in the coming
years it was really weird when I walked
over the bridge and when I when I first
had this idea to walk ten bridges with
ten people that I loved I never actually
thought I never actually thought what
would come out of it it just was this
idea that didn’t really mean anything I
mean I come up with ideas all the time
that’s what I do I’m a marketing person
and I execute sometimes I execute on
ideas and I don’t even know why I’m
doing it I just like oh I have this idea
I’m gonna do it I realize after I walked
the bridge with my dad that something
amazing happen and there was something
so metaphorical from walking over this
humongous bridge it’s like we started
off on one side
and we were able to cross over all of
these things that had happened in our in
our lives and and the conversation just
kept going on as we were walking across
and I felt like even you know
metaphorically we left some things on
the other side of the bridge and you
know we didn’t we didn’t really bring
them back we we just wanted to come back
with a better you know better outlook
better attitude and you know this was my
first bridge and the second bridge that
I decided to walk was with somebody that
I was in a really close relationship
with and we set out to walk over this
bridge in Korea when we were walking
over it I remember I remember the
feeling that I had this is somebody that
I was in a long-term relationship with
that I thought I was going to marry and
I remember when we were walking over the
bridge I had that same feeling I I felt
like we were on one side and as we were
crossing we were having these
conversations but this time as the
conversations went on I realized that we
had had deeper conversations than that
deep conversations that we had never had
before and as I was walking over I felt
this like empty sad feeling and I and I
knew deep down in my heart that this
person really wasn’t right for me to
marry so we walked over the bridge came
back and about a month later I ended up
calling off the relationship and in
hindsight we became you know really good
friends after and we just both kind of
realized it it wasn’t the right thing so
I started seeing this pattern with
walking bridges with people that every
time I walked a bridge with somebody
something came out of it and it’s really
hard to tell sometimes whether
something’s good or something’s bad
because you never know the consequences
of either around that time one of my
friends came up to me and said
hey I see on Facebook and social media
that you’ve been walking bridges with
people and I and I think it’s really
cool but how come I can’t be in your
tent or you know what actually I don’t
even have to be in your tent why can’t I
be in your like tier two and I thought
that was funny but and I and I said you
know what that’s actually a good idea
but I’m not gonna put anybody in a tier
two so I then had this other idea that I
would walk bridges with other people
that I cared about and I just wouldn’t
make it follow the same rules as the
original ten of being in different
countries and whatnot so shortly after I
decided I was gonna do that I found
myself in Toronto Canada I was there
working for one of my clients and I had
a day off and decided that I was gonna
wha I was gonna trek and walk over to
Niagara Falls and cross over and check
it out from both the US and the Canada
side and I ended up going to the bus and
I’m waiting in line for the bust and
Eiger Falls and this guy comes up and
taps me on the shoulder and says hey is
this the this the bus to go to Niagara
Falls I turn around and I said well I
hope so because that’s what I’m that’s
what I’m trying to do this guy’s name
was Pietro he was from Milano Italy and
I’m half Italian so immediately we kind
of like struck this conversation oh and
also we were the only two people waiting
in line that were like there by
ourselves everybody else was there with
family so we kind of struck this
conversation and we found out we had so
many things in common he worked for an
ad agency
I owned a marketing company you know he
lived in Italy my family’s from Italy
I’m half Italian
but we also realized that you know as
part of our conversation we realized
that we had kind of a similar upbringing
even though we were in two different
countries so we ended up walking over
Niagara Falls and hanging out over there
and it hit me while I was with them that
day I said you know what I should ask
him if he wants to walk a bridge with me
and even though he’s a total stranger I
think it would be a really cool
experience so I asked him I said hey you
want to Malkovich’s me and he said yeah
you know what that’s actually kind of a
cool
idea so we got up the next day we took
an uber to this bridge and as we were
walking across it
another idea hit me I thought wow with
the other two experiences that I’ve had
on bridges why don’t I try to kind of
intentionally replicate what I had done
before so when we were about halfway
across I said to Pietro you know what
Pietro there’s something that happened
to me when I was a young girl that I’ve
like literally like maybe two people in
the whole world know about I’ve really
never told anybody and it was kind of a
terrible thing and you know what I’m
gonna tell you about it and what I
really want to do is I kind of want to
leave that memory and and all the pain
and everything that went with that over
on the other side now you don’t have to
tell me anything I just I just feel like
I want to do this and so he was like
cool we got to the other side and
telling him this the secret that I had
and he was really awesome about it and
we chatted a little bit and and then he
said you know what I want to tell you
something when I was 13 years old my
brother died he died in a horrific car
accident and at the time my parents
really wanted me to go and view the body
and I didn’t want to I didn’t I didn’t
want to say my goodbyes and I spent the
next eight years of my life regretting
that decision so on my 21st birthday I
ended up going I ended up going to his
grave and and I and it promised my
brother one thing see my brother always
wanted to travel the world and he never
got that opportunity and so I promised
him from that day on that every day of
my life I was going to live and do the
things that he never got to do
and it was really funny because I
actually met him doing that thing he was
traveling the world by himself for his
brother oh my gosh it touched me in such
a way I couldn’t explain it and I felt
like I had known Pietro my entire life
so we left that day and I asked him I
said hey if you ever travel your way all
the way to Portland Oregon in the United
States please come see me and he
promised you know that if he did he
would about six months later I get a
message from Pietro on Facebook saying
hey I’m coming to Portland he ended up
coming to Portland and we walked a
bridge in Portland and the last thing
that we did before he left Portland was
we promised each other that that through
this experience that we had in Toronto
and in the six months that we got to
know each other over social media I mean
honestly we had only spent maybe a
couple hours together personally we
promised each other that what we were
going to do is we were going to walk ten
more bridges with strangers
intentionally walk them with strangers
and then a year later we were going to
walk a third bridge together so that’s
kind of what I’m in the middle of right
now I’ve walked now with two other
strangers and every time I walk the
bridge I try to intentionally have a
conversation with them maybe it’s
something I’m feeling at the moment like
I need to get over or it’s something I
need to get off my chest or sometimes
this I feel like I’m just being an ear
for something that they’re going through
and with each situation it’s been this
incredible connection this incredible
connection that I never would have
gotten if I wouldn’t have intentionally
set out to walk a bridge and have this
bridge conversation with people so what
I really want what I really want to do
is inspire people to do a movement of
walking bridges trying to bridge
anywhere it doesn’t matter it can be a
little you know pedestrian footbridge
it’s really just the metaphorical
representation of intentionally taking a
relationship that you have whether it be
bleeped stranger or somebody that you
know and you love and and maybe it’s to
repair their relationship maybe it’s to
talk about something that needs to be
talked about but I would encourage you
to to find your own bridge and and walk
with somebody if you do I I think what
you’ll find is that you’ll bridge more
than just the gap in the distance that
you physically watch you’ll bridge that
same gap and distance in your life and
in your relationships so go find your
bridge and go walk it
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