By posting the above photograph I give literal meaning to the old cliche “That’s water under the bridge.”
Flowing somewhat slowly under that bridge is Big Cow Creek, at the swimming hole and party spot of my youth. Yes, before the the Internet there were creeks in which kids would swim. This is especially so in the rural areas like those where I was raised.
Summer days past you might have found a half-dozen or more kids swinging off a rope and diving into the cold creek to beat the Texas heat. I don’t know if this is the case nowadays. On the day I visited a couple of weeks ago, the place was deserted.
It makes me wonder about that cliche — water under the bridge — meaning it is a past matter and mostly inconsequential or best forgotten. What does that really mean? Why is water under the bridge something best left alone? Is it because the past really doesn’t matter? Because as you surely know, the past often matters. Or is it that certain things matter while others don’t? Aha! Maybe. Perhaps. Not.
People really have some strange phrases pass their lips. But it doesn’t really matter. You know, it’s old hat. What’s done is done. Time to piss on the fire and call in the cliches.