Features - Health

Menopause is a lie. There’s no “pause” about it. It’s a wrenching turn in the road, a full stop. “The Change,” describes it better, although it also sounds suspiciously like what happens to werewolves under a full moon. Come to think of it, I am getting hairier in all the wrong places.

I’m fragile now. Breakable, even. After years of assuming my body would “do” for me — knowing if I could just boost an object up to my hip, I could carry it, no matter how heavy it was — I am forced to surrender. Because as my body loses its flexibility, I find myself rigidly standing with my Higher Power more than ever. And maybe that’s the ultimate lesson of growing older.

Age forces you into new life experiences. In some ways, I’m like a baby just starting out. I’m reborn, ready to take my first unsteady steps forward, guided by the ultimate parental hand. Hold on tight, Lord. My hips ain’t what they used to be.

-Lori Strawn

One Hot Mama

I am SO hot.
Not hot like Megan Fox hot.
Hot like Bea Arthur in a raging sauna hot.
30 degrees outside, 65 degrees inside.
I sit, in short sleeves, waving a fan
crafted from today's junk mail,
discretely slipping ice down the front of my shirt.

I see You have a sense of humor.
It is hell getting old.
The heat and inner flames
come right along with it.

Could You help me cope with these
sudden interior flashes of 250 degrees?
I've been cast as the
Wicked Witch of the West,
without any fancy byline.
I am meltiiiiiiing....

I trust You to help me navigate
these hot springs of my life.
Transport me to my next stage,
where I will prosper and grow,
with your guidance and love.
I trust You to get me through.
Yes, this hot flash-
and all the others- shall pass.

-Karen Laven

"How are you feeling? Have you noticed any
'growing pains'? How do you handle it?"