Chapters Begin and Chapters End...

Is it cliche of me to say that with the end of summer comes the final paragraph of another chapter? I think it is, but I'm going to say it anyways: with the end of summer comes the final paragraph of another chapter.

At the beginning of our life our chapters are neatly divided up for us: birth to preschool, preschool to kindergarden, elementary school, the brutal years of middle school, and high school. Throughout those periods of our life we live and grow much like our peers. We all learn to read, ride a bike, and eventually drive a car. But then, we graduate from high school.

At that point, everything changes.

We no longer have nice, defined chapters ahead us of. Some of us go on to college, whether it be community college, the local university, or Harvard; some of us go to trade schools; some of us go straight into the work force; some of us go into the military. As soon as we graduate from high school we have the freedom to define our own chapters. We pick the characters, the adventures, the danger, the plot. We are our own narrator.

Take a minute and think: how are your chapters defined? Do you go year-by-year? Is college one huge chapter for you? What are those points that call for a break in the reading? For each of us, these are different. No two people have the same book because we all surround ourselves with different characters in different settings with different plots. Naturally, we all end up in different places at the end of our stories.

As my family vacation is wrapping up, I can't help but to think that another chapter is closing in my book. The final paragraph will be written over the next couple weeks; but what will it say? In my head the title of this chapter is "University of Cincinnati: Year Three." How do I write that final paragraph? How can I sum up what has been the best year of my life so far? I feel like I should mention all of my friends and family. I should mention the university that has made all of this possible. But what about my professors? My employers? I could write about the path that I took; the options that were laid out for me by others. I could talk about all the great times I had with my SigEp Brothers or the disagreements that I got into with friends.

The options are endless. But if I had to write the final paragraph of that chapter, it would look something like this:

With one week left until the start of Fall Semester, I can do nothing but be thankful for the opportunities that have been presented to me over the past year. Without the incredible people in my life, I would not be the person that I am today. Whether it was serving my Brothers as President of SigEp or serving others in Haiti with friends, I was presented with a truly unique set of opportunities over the last year. I met some people that I will never forget...and some people that I would probably like to forget. I traveled to some incredible destinations. Fittingly, this school year ends with a week spent with family and a week spent with friends. I cannot ask for anything more and I hope next year brings even more excitement and friendship.