Crescendo e finis

An ocean wave picks up speed and lifts itself towards the heavens, rolling and churning before finally crashing against the shore and gently receeding back into the sea.

A gymnast raises her arms, runs and trots across the plastic mat, accelerating until a final jump, somersault, and square-footed landing, stopping on a dime and raising her arms to the cheering crowd.

A novelist reaches her final chapter, the words finding their way to the paper before she's sure she's even thought them yet, and her pulse thunders and her breath catches, and suddenly she is finished, and a novel is written.

A young lawyer shakes and twitches, nervously awaiting the words that seal her fate for the next four months, her hands trembling and her brow sweating, before reading the magical words that appear on her computer screen:

The name above appears on the pass list for the July 2005 California Bar Examination.

And for a few short moments, the world stops, all is calm, and she is truly at peace.