The Roebling Bridge

 A wire rope might not sound all that spectacular, but like most things, if you look a bit closer, you will see its magnificence.

My dad was a civil engineer, and he graduated from Purdue University, unlike John Roebling, who also graduated as a civil engineer. Still, he graduated from the Royal Building Academy in Berlin. If my dad were alive today, I would probably think of him as nerdy, with his 1970s polyester button-down shirts, a chest pocket for his expensive pens, and his comb-over hairstyle that always seemed a little greasy. It's funny; I never thought of my dad as a dreamer; he could be funny, but he always seemed pragmatic, analytical, and practical. Similar to most other engineers I have met, but maybe I should have looked deeper. Some people can see the magic in numbers and turn equations into exquisite works of art that stand the test of time for many generations to marvel over. That is what John Robling did with his namesake bridge.

163 years after John invented his wire rope:
An unquestionable dreamer, John, at nearly 25, led a group of colonists from Prussia, now Germany, to the United States. They were seeking freedom and democracy and leaving the crushing bureaucracy that stifled progress. He landed just north of Pittsburgh, where he tried his hand at farming. Six years after settling into life in America, he became a naturalized citizen. John married, had a baby boy and became the caretaker of his late brother's widowed wife and children.
"Another turning point
a fork stuck in the road.
Time grabs you by the wrist,
directs you where to go.
So make the best of this test, and don't ask why..."
I digress. Green Day popped into my ADHD brain.
Back to John Roebling.
With all of his new responsibility, John returned to engineering and accepted a job with the Pennsylvania Canal.

 

I think it must be time for a break from writing. Im getting a little punchy. I am just on woman doing the best I can.