The in between time

The end of October and early November is a strange in-between time. The night comes earlier and the dark lasts way into the morning before the end-of-the month time change.  I have to admit that Halloween is my most un-favourite holiday.  I don't like the dark and the wind, and I'm unsettled by the energy of people dressed in strange costumes.  Then comes November, truly a dreary month in the Pacific Northwest, with its narrowing down of light and the prospect of months of greyness ahead.

Now that we're retired from regular employment we're able to head south to avoid the cold and the greyness.  This will be the third winter we've spent time in Mexico and I'm looking forward to it.  But I'm also feeling nostalgic about the fall.  I'm savouring this time with the brilliant leaves and I'm even enjoying the rain and clouds.  There is so much to do to disentangle from my life over the past nine months that I'm feeling a little paralyzed.   It's as if I'm suspended  between two different lives right now.