Construction starts whenever I move into a new house. In my last house, a few months after moving, bull dozers ripped out the lime and mango trees to make way for our neighbors. Across the street, another home took a year to build. Piles of rocks were dropped off in the street; hammering; pounding; and sawing went on from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. and Saturdays until noon.

Then a funny thing always happened: I moved. With all the construction projects I’ve endured, I’ve rarely reaped the rewards. In one home, I labored through two years of watching a bridge being built over a river (I had to drive miles out of my way to go to and from work) only to move just before it opened.

Until now, that is! A brand new bridge has opened near my home, and I can’t stop thinking about it. In fact, I try to invent things to do just so I can drive over the bridge. The opening of this portal means I can avoid a traffic circle, which goes right in front of the mall. And that’s huge. I mean huge. Everyone and their cousin goes to this mall, and it gets hairy considering most people neglect to signal; obey stop signs; and it all happens on streets much too narrow to support the heavy traffic.

This morning I walked across the bridge. And, it’s stunning for Costa Rica standards. Lights. Painted lines. A stop sign (o.k. so it is also ignored, but at least it’s there) and a pedestrian walk way. I stopped to look down in the cavern. The river is not wide, but the drop is deep. I thought of all the hands and effort that went in to finishing this project. What joy it has given me. Imagine when they opened the train lines to the Pacific and people could travel to where they’d only wondered about or the tunnel through a moutain to connect east and west. I get to share a bit of that excitement, and this time, I get to reap the joy of all that work.