'I love you!' Well, sort of. . .

In Europe and increasingly in the United States, you see love locks or "love padlocks" attached to bridges. 

The Brooklyn Bridge in New York has thousands of them. You see them on the London Bridge in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

Couples in love arrive at the bridges with a key and padlock. They then attach the padlock to the bridge, sometimes with their names engraved on it, and then toss the key into the water below to symbolize their unbreakable love. Ah, so sweet.

The idea has come to Missoula on the footbridge across Rattlesnake Creek that connects downtown with the University of Montana. Perhaps a couple hundred couples have pledged their everlasting love there.

But among the locks are a dozen or so combination locks. There's no keys with these, of course. So what then did the couples toss into the water to symbolize their everlasting love? The combination?

Hummm. . . that doesn't seem quite right. If my significant other showed up with a combination lock instead of one with a key, I might be a bit concerned about our future.