The Menopause Marbles

Nope!

You aren’t losing your marbles.

Menopause just makes you feel that way sometimes.

Names skip away.

Car key escape.

The brownies decide to burn.

For years, women nicknamed this condition “menopausal fog.”

The results of a recent research study confirm that menopausal brain fog is for real.

And the best suggestion for working through the fog seems to be to cut down on distractions and multitasking.

I learned to multitask as a young children’s librarian when I had bunches of kids asking me for books at the same time.

I could grab A Wrinkle in Time with one hand and Beezus and Ramona with the other while heading toward the biographies to find Helen Keller and Hank Aaron.

I carried on my multitasking tradition as a mom, when we all become Multitask Queens.

But menopause seems to be a time to let up a bit.

I find I no longer want to rush.

In fact, rushing doesn’t give me the happy rush it once did.

And not rushing helps me hold onto a few more marbles.

What about you?

Any tips for keeping your marbles in the jar?

The marbles in the photo are from my mom’s collection. They decorate her kitchen counter in her apartment in Towson, Maryland.

To learn more about vintage marbles, check out this cool blog, Marbles Galore.

MINTED:  Congrats to Karoline  who won the Minted giveaway!

Friends for the Ride!

This is my 250th blog post!

Thanks to everyone who has guest posted (I’m always looking for more!  Email me at the address on the right.)

And thanks to everyone who has supported Friend for the Ride.

My mom painted this watercolor for us.

The rider in the front reminds us that menopause is our own ride, since each and every experience is different.

We endure those dips and swoops with the help of our friends, in person and online. Those are the riders in the background.

So here’s to all of you, my friends,

In happy honor of friendship, email, call, or send a card to a friend who could use some extra cheer today!

I’m going to do the same.

Foods That Harm/Foods That Heal Giveaway Winner:  Congrats to Haralee!

Menopause: Save the Sisters!

Although the subtitle of this blog is “Encouraging Words for the Menopause Roller Coaster,” I must give you a

Whine Alert!

I thought the great day would come when we’d stop having periods.

No cramps.

No worrying about going sailing for six hours at that time of the month.

No birth control.

Just free wheeling.

I figured the definition above, which I snipped from a Google search of “menopause,” was an honest one.

Not!

 Menopause is so much more.

No cramps slips into other concerns: achy feet, insomnia, extra dry skin, weight gain, bloating, and on and on….

No birth control remains a blessing, but one’s enthusiasm can wane when vaginal dryness and atrophy appear.

I was tricked!

No one warned me, really.

Or maybe they did, but I missed it.

Menopause, physically, is not simply the cessation of periods and the end to the possibility of pregnancy.

I cry NOT to the definition above. Or perhaps that should be “THAT’S NOT ALL!”

Do I wish I had known?

Yes!

I’m of the forewarned is best persuasion.

The Girl Scout motto “Be prepared” stuck with me.

What about  you?

There’s plenty to celebrate with The Great Pause.

Liberation from some of the “shoulds” and “musts.”

A willingness to toss out what’s not working.

The courage and confidence to find new hobbies, activities, travels, relationships, and even careers.

The mind-changing stuff rocks.

But to the physical stuff I say

Yikes and Yuck.

So what are the encouraging words?

Point one is that there are remedies, at least in part, for some of the ailments.

Point two is that the mind-changing stuff is cool.

Point three is that I think it’s time we

Save the Sisters!

Just like an older sister informs a younger one about periods, we should let those who come after us know what lies ahead.

I wish I’d been warned.

I would have appreciated my youth more.

And not been so shocked by the changes to my body.

So it’s time, with encouraging but honest words, to clue in the sisters.

Agree?

Disagree?

The Menopause Bunny—NOT!

Since Mrs. Claus has taken an interest in Friend for the Ride.

And since there are Menopause Pumpkins.

And since you can buy a Magic Guilt-free Holiday Wand.

I thought, perhaps, there might be  a Menopause Bunny to help women out, especially in the springtime.

So I asked the bunny above, who lives at my house. Her name is Henrietta.

“No, honey,” Henrietta said, shaking her long ears.  ”There’s no such thing as a Menopause Bunny.”

Her nose twitched.

Then she added, “There’s  just the Easter Bunny.”

More twitches.

“He’s got menopause covered though,” she said. “Why do you think he brings so much chocolate?”

Duh!

Thanks for the info, Henrietta. I hope the Bunny fills up your baskets, too.