The bridge is up. Have you seen the new footbridge that has finally been installed at the corner of East Bidwell and Blue Ravine?

It took a while longer to get here, and it won’t be usable until the fall, but it is here.

One of the nice amenities of this area is our numerous bike and hiking trails, as well as preserved wetlands here and there.

It speaks well of those who plan for such things. Planning is once again a viable issue considering the annexation of Folsom’s sphere of influence south of Highway 50 that is now in the works.

There are surely some folks who have lived here a long time, or even all of their lives, who view such signs of progress with trepidation, and rightfully so.

We like things to stay the way we remembered them, and we like things to stay relatively open and pristine.

I remembered when I first returned to Baltimore and saw an open field where Memorial Stadium used to be. It knocked me back. And don’t even start about when they tore down the Otterbein’s bakery.

We encountered various sides of this issue with the downtown revitalization on Sutter Street.

The trees are gone, but others are coming to take their place. The removal of a very old butternut tree in Sacramento made the news last week.

Things change. That’s the way life works, isn’t it?

Old things fall apart or get taken down, and new things take their place. When I first moved here there was nearly nothing on Bidwell from Blue Ravine to Highway 50 and now look at it.

Of course, I know residents who have lived here much longer and knew Folsom back when. Their stories are always better than mine.

One of my favorite hymns is “Abide With Me.” In it we sing, “Change and decay in all around I see, O Thou who changest not abide with me.”

Changes will occur. Some of them are planned and some of them are not. Some of them are welcome and some of them are not. But changes will most definitely come.

There is wisdom and peace in accepting what you cannot change.

So join me, won’t you, when the new footbridge finally opens this fall.

I’ll be there, walking or riding across it. You can recognize me from the photo on this article.

I have hardly changed.

Tom Rupp is a Bible teacher at Capital Bible College. He can be reached at truppfolsom@yahoo.com or through his blog at thomaswrupp.blogspot.com.