Her Period Days Are Over and Mostly Forgotten

As a younger woman, I imagined feeling daily gratitude once my period days were over. How incredible it would be!

I suffered from many manifestations of PMS that started at mid-cycle. Then the cramps hit. Basically, I had one week a month when my body felt content. Even when Cliff and I argued about this and that, I remember thinking but I suffer so from being a woman. The whole world needs to cut me a million breaks.

So am I now in a state of constant appreciation that I am period-free?

Nope.

Why?

I’m not really sure, but here are two theories:

First off, I’d love to have some of that estrogen back.

Second, menopause is a transition complete with its own problems. It’s not like a fairy suddenly waves her wand and says, “Poof. You’re done!”  As our bodies weather through menopause, I think the other problems can cloud the happy feeling of no more periods.

When I saw the above article in Oprah Magazine, I realized I don’t even think about my period anymore. In fact, it’s not even in my radar that other women are suffering like I once did. I wish all of them well of course. I just forget.

Here’s a post I wrote when the blog was brand new eight years ago about mourning the loss of periods, an emotion that surprised me then.

Am I mourning  the college girl, long gone, who dealt with periods as she juggled research papers, boyfriend, and dorm conversations that ended in happy hysterics?  Am I missing the possibility of one more sweet baby?  Am I grieving for a body that amazed me because it could count the days?  Am I worrying about the body now, which certainly seems less efficient, and the one to come?

The end of periods was very much on my mind eight years ago. It’s not now.

I’m not sure what my point is. Maybe just that life moves on. At best we embrace those changes.

What about you? Do you remember to be thankful your periods are gone? Do you miss them in any way?

And for you young ones, how anxious are you for those days to be over?

Any Time of the Month? Sure!

I made a doctor’s appointment the other day.

The next morning  in the shower (why does this stuff come to us in the shower?), a memory came sailing back.

How fast I had forgotten…

For thirty-five years or so, I never made an appointment without first determining what time of the month it would be.

Yes, THAT time of the month.

Remember counting ahead? Trying to figure out when you might be having a period?

And remember being wrong and needing to change the appointment? 

Grrrr. How annoying!

On the list of menopausal pros and cons, put a happy check mark next to the pros for this one. 

No more periods means no more figuring out when you can and cannot schedule a checkup.

For those of you not there yet, this is a small joy, a simple convenience you have to look forward to.

But in our complicated lives, we thank heaven for menopausal favors.

Giveaways!  Congrats to Beth, who won the Haralee Cool Garments for Hot Women giveaway and to Silvia, who won Cast-Iron Cooking with Sisters on the Fly.

A Wedding/Menopause TMI Post

My friend Carol Baldwin says I sometimes write about gutsy stuff  (which I’m hoping is a compliment, Carol). Since she has a daughter’s wedding coming up, I’m dedicating this post to her!

The purse above is the purse I carried on Katherine’s big day.

For Laura’s upcoming nuptials, I thought it would be fun to get a new one.

But alas, pennies are spilling from our pocketbooks like lucky rice tossed into the wedding wind.

Carrying the same purse again would save a few of those pennies.

And the silver sequins match the silver beads on my royal blue dress.

So I plucked the purse off my closet shelf.

Look what I found tucked  inside…

A tampon and two safety pins.

Don’t need that tampon anymore.

Toss it to the wind!

So…

My encouraging words for those of you in the throes of iffy, spotty, who-knows-when periods or still having plain old here-it-is-again periods:

You’ll get your chance to smile when you see a tampon tucked inside an old purse.

And that, Dearly Beloved, will be a day to celebrate!

P.S. The safety pins are coming along with me. I’m in charge of bustling the dress. Olga, the wedding dress rescuer who created the bustle, demonstrated the process to me.  Be still my spinning head.

If worse comes to worse, I’ll abandon the hooks and eyes and just pin up the fluffs of tulle.  That’s my plan, but of course, I haven’t mentioned this to the bride…