“All good things must come to an end.”
Stories use to begin with "Once upon a time..." or "Long ago, in a faraway land...". Now although the beginnings have changed, one thing remains the same, the stories end with "The End...". Maybe you don't see those words written on the page anymore or at the end of the movie before the credits start to roll, but you don't need to. You know without a doubt that it is the end. You can hope that the story will continue in a series and you can continue to enjoy the tales about characters you love so dearly. But then even that must come to an end.
I am one of those people who absolutely dread endings. Most people can't wait to get to the end and find out how things turned out, but for me it's different. Yes, I want to know how things turn out, but still I have this feeling of dread inside of me as I draw nearer the ending. It's like when my favorite TV shows get to the finale. I'm not talking about those season finales that leave cliffhangers that make you yell at the TV, "What happened?", I'm talking about those series finales, the ones that make you sad as you turn the TV off after it's over, but you still sit there and stare off into space wondering what new show will fill that space you had devoted for so long to the other show.
I have experienced this feeling many times. In August I finally finished M*A*S*H. Since July, I had been watching M*A*S*H pretty much every day, hours upon hours of episodes. From Season 1 through Season 11. As I watched the Season 11 episodes I started to get that feeling of dread inside, because I knew that the final episode was drawing nearer. When I finally got to it I cried during pretty much the whole two hours. I love M*A*S*H, and it felt like a part of me was ending.
I get this same feeling with many of my favorite shows and my favorite books. I remember when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out. I stood in line to get my book at 12am, and I read until 4am, and I was up to chapter 12. I spent the next day reading at a friend’s birthday party. My book still has a grease stain from the pizza on the front cover. I even read at the bowling alley. Every time it was my turn I'd save my spot, take my turn and hurry back to keep reading. I remember lying in bed that night struggling through the last chapters. I had to know how it would end, but at the same time I was sad to see it end. I literally started crying in the last couple chapters and said if Harry died I would never read another book, thankfully I still read today.
Even though I know things must end, I still don't like it. Last night was the final episode of Hannah Montana. I managed not to cry until the last five minutes, but when I finally did I realized something. The end of Hannah Montana was the end of part of my childhood. I remember when Hannah Montana came out four years ago. It was an instant hit, and I loved it. My best friend Haley gave me the Hannah Montana cd for my 13th birthday, and that cd was played constantly for months. We had the words memorized within a few hours.
One of my favorite memories is of Haley, Lauren and me at a sleepover. We played the Hannah Montana music videos and danced around singing the lyrics. It was great. I remember going to see the Hannah Montana Best of Both Worlds Concert movie with my friend Lauren. I just about died because it was just like being at the hottest concert of the year! Then my parents took me to see the Hannah Montana Movie when it came out and I loved the music and fell in love with the leading man (he was cute!). Hannah Montana was a big thing in my life.
So last night when it hit me that Hannah Montana was over I went back to my room and stared at my walls. I have 58 posters on my walls, and most of them are Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus posters. If you look you can see how I have slowly gotten older. As you turn around the room the walls slowly goes from Disney starlets to Disney TV shows and movies, to boy bands and cute guys and grows into the teenage hit Twilight. It shows the slow progression over the last four years. I wanted so badly to grow up, but now at almost 17, I am not ready to grow up and give up my childish ways.
I want to sit on the couch on Sunday night and watch Disney Channel and laugh my head off at silly jokes. I want to watch the reruns that never get old even though I've seen it so many times I can quote it. I want to dance around my room all night to Hannah Montana, High School Musical and the Jonas Brothers.
But eventually I'm gonna have to say goodbye to all of that. Every once in awhile I can listen to my old Disney playlist, or flip the Disney Channel on and catch a show or two. But in the end, it just isn't the same. So tonight I'll slowly take down my old Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus posters, and replace them with Taylor Swift posters and lyrics from my favorite songs. Maybe I'll leave one or two posters up because I don't really want to grow up. But that's just holding off the inevitable. One day I will grow up.
That'll be the day I look around my room again and wonder where all the time went. I'll remember all those memories, but then they will still just be memories. And I'll be all grown up. Maybe I'll think Hannah Montana and the Disney Channel are just stupid. But deep down those little things will still mean the most to me.
But now it is time to write "The End" and slowly close the book. I can feel that longing for the story to continue, for it to never end. Winnie the Pooh said at the end of the movie "Oh, no, can't we go back to page one and do it all over again?". I'm with him. Let's do it all over again. But life doesn't work that way. It might be nice if it did or then again, it might not be. Now that I think about it, maybe this isn't the end of the book. Just the end of the chapter. I'll turn the page and start a whole new chapter, with more adventures and fun. So in a way while on chapter ends, another is beginning, so the story isn't completely over. But sometimes in life it doesn't feel that way.
"Every ending is a new beginning"
