"Sex and the City" - the column

I want to revisit the post about Samantha from Sex and the City, and how Carrie calls her fairy tale a "short chapter" in her life. I'm going to briefly take on the role of Carrie by doing what she does every episode - ask a rhetorical questions about relationships in her column, "Sex and the City."

When you're 21 it's hard to think of relationships in the long term for two reasons: you're young and most of your (my) relationships are short. But when a relationship does end, especially a particularly meaningful one, you have to ask your self -

Is this the end of a chapter or the end of the book?

The worst part of breaking up is of course, the rebound. And that is so bad because you don't really know where things are going from there... I mean, are you going to live "miserably ever after"? Or did you do the dump-ing and therefore think you'll live "happily every after"? Presumably, a certain breakup isn't really an end point or any sort of "ever after," it's just simply a speed bump on the road to grandma's house (and you're not walking, you're on a moped).

But what if it is? What if that was the last relationship you'll ever have and it's over? Now what, right? I suppose from here it could go either way, a happy or a miserable ending depending on what you make of your situation and what you think of the opposite (or same) sex.

But what if it's not? What if you're going to enter more great relationships ending in (possibly epically bad) breakups? When do you know you've reached your final chapter - when it's time to either seal the deal or break it off for good?

I guess for Samantha, a happily ever after is actually not a permanent state of existence within a relationship. She enjoys "the thrill of the chase," meaning meeting and sleeping with new men all the time. I think I'd put her break up in the "happily ever after" category because she'll probably be in a perpetual state of meeting, dating, and dumping men. In other words, that's her "end."

For me, though, it's a different story. Chasing someone is only fun for so long. So is dating someone, so is being single. Overall though, rotating through phases where life is defined by my relationships with a man are definitely a "miserably ever after," because I can define the chapters of my life in anyway I please, not necessarily on my relationships.

So the conclusion.... Maybe the chapter/fairy tale book analogy works in the fictitious world of Carrie Bradshaw, a writer, but for most of us, the sun does not rise and fall on our (lack of) significant other. I wonder what I should define my chapters by instead...