The Last Few Pages

I come from a long line of skip-aheaders. The first thing my grandmother used to do when she bought a book was skip to very last page and skim through to see what happens to the hero (or heroine.) My father has a habit of walking into our living room just as a movie is ending, watching only the finale, and then never bothering to see the whole film. Don’t get me wrong; it’s not that we’re impatient, or that we don’t enjoy books and movies; I guess we're just not fans of surprise.

Like now, for example. I’m a junior at Florida State, working on a degree in advertising, with quite a bit of blank pages between where I am now and my future career. Like my grandmother, I catch myself wanting to flip to the end to see where I end up, as though knowing where I'll be working in 15 years would give me some sort of direction to work towards. Lately though, I’ve decided to apply some 'lateral thinking'.

What’s so great about the last few pages anyway? Think of your favorite book or movie. What was your absolute favorite part? More than likely, it’s not at the end, but somewhere in the middle. Our lives are the same way, and by "skipping ahead" and over-anticipating or worrying about the future, we deny ourselves the opportunity to live in the colorful, exhilarating, unpredictable present. So instead of worrying myself over the circumstances stacked against my future, tonight I’m going to have a drink with my friends and talk about music. After all, you never know how many chapters you’ve got left.