end of a cycle

I just realized that this is the year of the boar, the last sign of the chinese zodiac. I had almost forgotten.

While each year is always a transition the one that ends and begins the twelve year cycle is a bigger one. To close out not just a year but a twelve year cycle. Long enough to know you have aged. Long enough to see an entire phase of one's life pass.

I'm also getting emails from various friends discussing the decisions they are making at this time: major shifts to where their careers are, their family life, their location of living.

Reading Leny's Cannibal dreams, this winter does feel darker, heavier than previous ones. It may be just me. It's darker, deeper. But not in an evil doom and gloom way. More like the darkness of the sea bed floor, the pressure of the water yet teeming with life.

I am no different with some major shifts already upon me. I can almost hear the pitter pat of the rat year feet coming. Soon, he comes. Be ready. Time to prepare.