the afternoon light hits the old steel the same way every day

Spent the morning re-checking expansion joint clearances on a bridge I've walked a hundred times. The numbers were fine — they're always fine now — but I stood there listening to the girders creak in the heat anyway. It’s not worry anymore, just ritual. Maybe that's what happens when you've been doing this long enough: the anxiety softens into a kind of hum, and you're not sure if that's wisdom or just being too tired to panic.