Until I listened to Jane Hirshfield’s poem, “My Skeleton,” I’d never thought about my own skeleton.
Sure, I’d pondered individual bones. Wondered what they might look like under my skin Worried about breaking one.
But I’d never thought about my entire skeleton. Me, just bones, looking a bit like the skeleton I hang on our kitchen door at Halloween.
Hey! Maybe that’s how I can achieve immortality! Me, grinning from the wall of a fine university someday. Proud to be a skeleton. Not a hint of cellulite or padding on my pelvis.
What about you? Any interest in the skeleton life?
Listen to Jane’s poem, an ode to her own skeleton. Love it!
But what about our skeletons now?
How do we preserve our bones while they’re instrumental to our every movement? While we’re kicking and breathing?
I turned to menopause expert Ellen Dolgen. She sent me the link to her article “The Big O’ Ain’t What It Used to Be–Osteoporosis 101. Ellen writes about bone density testing, the pros and cons of medication for osteoporosis, and non-medical methods for improving bone health, including good old walking. Thanks, Ellen!
Photo: The skeleton in the photo graces our door at Halloween. She was pleased to post a few weeks ago for Friend for the Ride. I like this photo because it shows a skeleton of sorts in my life, our old stove, and reflects back into the green of our yard.
Menpause Mondays: To sign up for Ellen’s newsletter on all things menopause, click here.
Jane Hirshfield: To lean more about poet Jane Hirshfield, visit the site of the Poetry Foundation.
Friend For The Ride 
That’s an eye-catching skeleton! I haven’t thought about my skeleton in its entirety but I have given thought to parts of it – the parts that are “acting up” – and that’s happening more frequently as I age.
LikeLike
trying to take care of my bones through exercise. Pre-osteoporisis is a good wake-up call and reason for biking, golfing, and tae kwon do! And no, I still haven’t forgotten about a blog for you–just been too busy exercising! 🙂
LikeLike
Thanks for reminding me to remember my bones! It seems I decided that walking on a treadmill with a 20 lb weight vest wasn’t as much fun as putting on real weight while getting more calcium with ice cream and walking outside!
LikeLike
I’m with you Chris. Yoga is great for the bones; ice cream is better.
LikeLike
Great Poem. I ask why are my bones getting lighter when the rest of me is not? So unfair, oh to be a ‘big boned girl’!
LikeLike
Neon orange skeleton, is , well…scary! Luckily, our bones aren’t, or don’t have to be!
I am loving the poetry of the most recent entries. I had forgotten poetry. Poetry is wistful, it’s philosophical, its metaphors are captivating, its memory lingering.
But, in terms of our bones, on a most practical level in menopause, they aren‘t separate from us! We and they are one!
Pick up a sledge hammer and break some asphalt (that’s what I’m doing recently), and it’s a whole body-mind exercise (no Pilates coaches needed to prod you about your “core,” and no mindfulness needed to remember that I and the bones, muscles, etc. moving are in unison on an activity of “our” creation.
I once visited a doctor specializing in menopause, who said to me when she saw me, “Oh, you are just fine, you are “tall and big-boned.” She said that to ME, a 5’4” woman, always considered to be petite, and if anything small or at the very most medium-boned.
If you want to be “big-boned,” then pick up that sledge hammer!
LikeLike
I agree with you. Ode to a skeleton. No bulging middle!
LikeLike
Too bad I won’t be around to see my skeloton
LikeLike