“Stella, have you heard of the story about the Ouroboros?”

A child watched as her father ran a hand over the shelves of his study, before pulling out a worn paperback book. She was silent, eyes shifting to the side as she thought, and shook her head in response. Her father smiled, taking his daughter’s hand and lead her to an area in front of a burning fireplace. They sat down, cross-legged, across from each other on a woven rug. Stella grinned, her pupils filled with curiosity, anticipating her father’s tale of the day.

“Ouroboros is an ancient symbol of a serpent or dragon biting or eating its own tail,” her father began. “The term is Greek, meaning ‘tail-devourer.'”

He turns to a page in the book before holding it up to show her a picture. Stella made a face of disgust at first, but then she made a closer observation.

“It makes a circle shape,” she said, tracing the picture with a finger.

“That’s right. The symbol is not to talk about a lizard who likes to use its tail as a snack; it stands for how beginnings and ends are connected. Time and eternity. The continuous change of…our reality,” her father continued, setting aside the book. “Sometimes things end in order for new and better events to occur. The Ancient Egyptians, where this symbol is seen oldest in our history, created artwork of a serpent after watching the Nile River flood in their summers. Flooding be destructive, yet the waters made their land better for farming; it brought new life.”

Stella blinked as she processed this information. Her father put his hands gently on her shoulders then.

“So, Ouroboros. I want you to remember this if anything ever happens to you, like if one of your friends leaves or your favorite pizza place shuts down in the city…some things have to end in order for a new beginning, possibly a better one. Okay?”

The child nodded in understanding now, a bright smile on their face, and she moves to hug her father. Tightly.