The Journey To The Other Side

September is National Menopause Awareness Month

That goodness it’s nearly over. I feel overly aware myself.  I passed along this awareness to co-workers, Crazy Chicks and my dear readers, so I feel like I did my part. Now I can begin research on October’s subjects of awareness. There’s got to be one more fun…

(If you haven’t had enough – More about menopause at Lifescript.com.)

Journey to the Other SideAs I journey to the other side (of youth and womanhood), I keep fighting what is happening to my body and my mind. The more I fight, the unhappier I become. Inside I feel 30-years old, but now my body is telling me it’s a lot older than that. Not subtlety either.

For example, this week my bad (“bulging” is the term the spine doctor uses) disc screams at me when I chose to change my position slightly. I say “Oh!”, “Yikes!”, “Eek!” very often. Occasionally, a sharp and sudden pain warrants a good old-fashioned “#&*%@!!” or even a “*&^#$$@@!” – yelled out loud at great volume. The sharp pain I expect (because I attempt to move), warrants those words, but mostly they stay in my brain and don’t exit my mouth.

The only thing I want hubby to do to me is massage my neck (it tenses when disc acts up). That and fetch my ice-pack and 800 mg of Ibuprofen when it’s time for them. It’s probably time for a spinal steroid injection again. That is a whole different blog post in itself.

This is not the romantic week-end hubby and I looked forward to all week. Sigh. Contrary to what young people think, it isn’t being married a long time that dulls the desire to have sex.

It’s the pain.

My Big Fat Hairy Decision

I am ashamed to admit this, but I have allowed my hair to look horrid all summer. Camouflaging it with pony-tails, clips, and head-bands. “Why?” Because I could not decide what I was going to do about it, that’s why.

My bleached highlights are way past my scalp, so I can’t say my roots are showing anymore. I could say, “OMG, my gray is showing!” and that would be correct. It would be so cool if gray were the new blonde. But no, and here I have baby fine brown hair, highlighted with gray. You won’t see me in any Vidal Sassoon commercials.

It’s possible you could see me in wig commercials soon, the rate I am losing my hair. It’s totally freaking me out! Why is this happening to me??  I’m not on chemo.. It’s not a symptom of menopause, or diabetes either. My doctor(s) think it’s stress related, so what else is new?. The only thing I am stressing out about is changing my hair-style to minimize the gray and the bald spots.  I’m married to a very handsome man (with a great head of hair) that women (with sexy long hair) flirt with. And here I am contemplating chopping mine short, so the weight does not pull it out.  Hubby dislikes short hair (Duh, all men do). I wonder how he feels about bald ones?

Well, today is the big day. This afternoon I have an appointment with my hairdresser, Tina, and we are going to figure out the best thing to do. Tina has cut, colored, and highlighted my hair since the 80’s. She makes highlights look as if you were born with that hair color. I trust her judgement better than my own. My natural hair color is a dull shade of Dog Poop Brown. Seriously.  Crayola calls it something else, but it’s in that big box of 64 crayons with the crayon sharpener  breaker on the back. Time to get some chores done and stop thinking about it.

Even more hair is falling out as you read this…

17 Reasons My Man Should Live in Fear

September is National Menopause Awareness Month (in case you forgot)…

  1. Irregular menstrual periods
  2. Hot flashes and night sweats
  3. Disturbed sleep patterns, insomnia  The 7 Dwarfs Of Menopause
  4. Anxiety
  5. Significant mood changes
  6. Depression
  7. Dry skin
  8. Irritability
  9. Vaginal dryness and pain with sexual intercourse
  10. Difficulty concentrating
  11. Trouble remembering things
  12. Diminished interest in sex
  13. Frequent urination or leaking of urine
  14. Headaches
  15. Achy joints
  16. Fatigue
  17. Early morning awakening

Even though I’m not having much fun now, I know that once I’ve made it to the other side this crap will go away.  At least most of it – please Lord?!

Today is our 23rd wedding anniversary and my man gave me what he gave me last year (a card) – minus the card. Sigh. He should be living in fear (there are 18 reasons now), but he is too clueless to be afraid, and that really pisses me off!  (19th reason).

Perhaps he’s not afraid, because he leaves Weds. to spend a week up at our new place working on his shop (a.k.a. Man Cave). He will have a whole week without his menopausal woman and I bet he is looking forward to it, the brat! (20th reason). He forgets that I will also have a week without supervision. A week that I can get rid of crap he will never use, but won’t toss out. A week to weed out ridiculous clothing. Oh yes, and a week to go shopping for my anniversary present.  😉