A Paper Anniversary

There’s lots of folklore surrounding the Crim Dell Bridge.  There’s a rumor that a popular men’s magazine ranked it the second most beautiful spot on a college campus (while I agree with the affirmation I think that legend is more myth than reality).  There’s also a curse associated with the bridge.  To prove the curse true would be difficult but W&M students and alumni (myself included) take this curse very seriously.

Legend has it that if you walk over the bridge unaccompanied, you are destined to end up alone/unmarried/without a significant other for eternity; not a desirable fate for most.  The curse has an upside however.  If you walk over the bridge with a significant other/boyfriend/girlfriend/fiance and kiss that individual at the top of the bridge, you are destined to be with that person, in love, for eternity.  Now should you curse yourself and walk over the bridge prematurely with someone who turns out not to be Mr. or Ms. Right, the only way to break the spell is to take that individual back over the bridge and push him or her off.  As a result of this legend, rarely if ever do you see anyone walk over the bridge (the one exception being during Commencement walk when I guess everyone figures there is safety in numbers).  However, many wedding couples do take their picture on top of the bridge.

Well I took this rumor seriously and thus stayed as far away from the bridge as possible during my undergraduate tenure at the College.  When my husband and I married we were unable to marry in Williamsburg and thus I thought my chance to live the legend had passed.  But, the first anniversary gift is traditionally paper.  As a sentimental gesture to his overly sappy wife, my husband arranged for our wedding photographer to take pictures of us on the Crim Dell Bridge on our first wedding anniversary.  We even kissed at the top of the bridge.  Hopefully the legend will prove true because neither one of us wants to take that plunge into the murky waters below.

– Wendy Livingston