15 de julio de 2024
In my late twenties I went up the 354 steps to the Crown of the Statue of Liberty with three of my best friends. It took us forty-five minutes to get there and once we got to the top we could only stay the time it took to take a snapshot of the view before we were “forced” to move on by the endless stream of people coming up behind us.
The experience was not about being there; it was about getting there and moving on –sort of like the menopause. A book I am reading explains that the menopause has three stages. The menopause itself sandwiched between peri- and post-, is all of one instant in time –like the snapshot at the top of the crown of Lady Liberty but not as obvious.
It is the moment when you have the last period –that moment when you flush the last tampon, roll the last feminine towel and say hello to a life of wearing white pants and planning camping weekends without worrying about waking up in a pool of blood.
Sadly, you do not know you are there until a year later, when you are officially pronounced post-menopausal. No time to take in the moment and enjoy it; not even a minute to freeze it in a photo. Move on, post-menopausal lady, there’s a stream of women pushing up right behind you, sweating, forgetting what they were doing a minute ago, crying because the kitty does not allow her to pet him, screaming because they can’t open a jar of mayonnaise and longing for a wet vagina!
The good news is that menopause, as vilified and misunderstood as it has been throughout the ages, has finally made its very public debut. Look at the news; do not miss the commercial breaks. Pharma has finally caught up. Sadly, we are “not there” yet. Not until we stop treating menopause as a disease and calling its natural signs, symptoms. Menopause, like menstruation and childbirth, are exclusive gifts bestowed by Nature upon women. Own it. Cherish it. Be crazy, irritable, moody, euphoric and hot. Laugh hysterically. Cry uncontrollably. Feel happy –or-sad- for no reason.
No matter what stage of life you are living, when you honor your woman-ness without shame, you have arrived.
©MYRNA CLEGHORN
Updated July 2024