If You Could Script Your Final Scene, What Does It Sound Like?

We spend so much of our lives letting circumstances write our chapters for us. We adapt to unexpected detours, carry old grief through busy seasons, and get tangled up in the daily noise of obligations.

Writing The Road to the Rainbow Hale forced me to confront a question that goes much deeper than storytelling:

If you had the power to script your own ending, what would it actually look like?

Not the ending someone else expects of you, but the one you choose.

• Where would you be? Would you be standing where the salt spray hits the basalt rock along the windward coast of Oahu, looking out at an endless ocean, or tucked into a quiet room surrounded by green ridges and mountain mist?

• Who would be in the room? The chosen family who held your hand through the storms, the kindred spirits who learned your rhythm, or the quiet solitude of your own company, finally at peace?

• What would you be doing? Dancing across a wide stone floor without kicking off your shoes? Laughing over platters of food passed down a long wooden table? Or simply watching the evening light soften against the horizon?

• What is your soundtrack? Life rarely happens in silence. There is always a song running in the background—whether it’s a smoky saxophone drifting over an open lanai, an operatic note echoing off the ceiling, or an old rock anthem that makes your heart beat double-time.

In life, as in fiction, we don’t always get to choose the opening scene or the plot twists that knock us flat. But how we gather our people, the grace we extend to ourselves, and the music we choose to play while the sun goes down—that part is ours.

Take a breath, listen to what's playing in your head, and claim your final scene.

— L.A. Howard