As the last leaves fall, I find myself empty, as empty as a barren tree at twilight. Change is in the air. I’ve been taken down to lath and bone. No layering on top of what was. This is a removal, a time of letting go, a stripping away to allow the new. There is little fear, just an observant eye noticing the process. I see one hand wanting to hold the past because some part of me believes that’s all there is. But another, wiser part, stands back to attend. You’re being stripped bare, she tells me. You’ll move forward in a different form after hibernation and adjustment. It’s just another cycle of life being life, so open your hands, Let it fall and wait. You will receive. This is just life being life.