A chapter can end abruptly, leaving the story to go on without resolving many things that we hoped it would. Others take a long time to come to an end even though we wish it otherwise.  Some chapters we try to delay the ending often dragging it to a painful conclusion.

We are the author and it is our story.  However we do not have the final say as to how it will be written, nor do we know with any certainty how long or short the book will be, nor how many chapters it will contain.  Working with no outline of the story just reporting the details with little idea of the outcome.

When there are many sections to the book the life can seem varied and very full but the number of chapters does not matter as much as the content of the pages.   A book with only a few pages sometimes can say more than volumes.  A life can be long or short or somewhere in between but it is the content of the pages that matter.

Some lives with the greatest accomplishments were not happy ones, each chapter filled with disappointments, tragedies and frustrations. Other lives have page after page of contentment with very little to mark their days as being remarkable.

Which life story is more interesting, more appreciated or worthwhile?   Can there be anyway to judge?  There is only one reader's opinion that can be the critic and that is the author.  When the last page is written can they close the book saying they enjoyed the story. 

Ever notice that when people have really enjoyed their lives or portions of it that they are usually great storytellers.  They share their lives and relive it and reincarnate moments that are long past.  With the telling of the story the chapter becomes revived in the mind, something to enjoy again or reflect upon, experiences all of them that shaped and changed the direction that the story would eventually go.

I embrace change and sometimes even pursue it.  The unexpected piques my curiosity and I relish the challenge of finding ingenious solutions to life's puzzles.  Still an onslaught of changes all at once can be overwhelming and can short out my mental circuitry.  But there are intangible assets that I draw upon to help turn uncomfortable transitions into a type of growth experience.  Resources deep within me that help to make life's passages easier such as a keen intellect and communication skills.  Life altering experiences can go remarkably well if you have a mission, a goal.  It is easy to get stymied at a difficult juncture of a transition to a new chapter of your life if you let your imagination envision problems that do not exist.  This is when I look to my friends to be honest and give me a critique that keeps me grounded and helps break down the stages so they are manageable.   This is most beneficial when facing changes not of my own design.  Enlisting others in a team effort whenever possible.  Sharing the load so I can stop to breath, and gain a fresh prospective.

There is so much variety to my story.  Portions of the book more interesting than others come to mind but each division has an altering affect on the chapters yet to be written in some manner.   As the distance of time spreads from one chapter to later ones sometimes the story does not appear to be mine and goes from being an self-portrayal to a story of someone else who lived once a long time ago.  Closing a chapter and beginning  a new one can be painful, mysterious, offering up more uncertainties than confidence and direction.  As my story unfolds with chapters so different from the others I see myself closing parts of my life that I tested out a theory or interest and for whatever reason abandoned it to look at a more interesting or prospective avenue of pursuit.  I say I am a sampler of life and become bored with routine although like many this is a comfortable setting and sometimes hard to leave.  However once making the shift, starting the composition to a new chapter, the door is closed to all but the occasional memory and the story moves on once more.  As I exhale my last breath I will finish the book with one final period.  The true value of the contents of the book only known to me.

                                   Cheryl C. Helynck

                                            1999