I didn't know it was going to be like this.

I'm 51.  I don't understand how I got here because I feel about 25 inside and now [gasp] -- peri-menopause.  I haven't had any of the stereotypical symptoms that everyone makes fun of, such as hot flashes or dramatic mood swings, but I do have the most important sign of all -- the pendulum period.  Twenty one days, fifty six days, what's a little inconsistency among friends?   Ugh.  I buy tampons, pregnancy tests and vaginal moisturizers from the same drugstore at the same time, and I am certain the check out girls (yes, they are GIRLS) are eying me when I am not looking.  "What is her trip?" they must think as they dutifully bag my feminine hygiene products and hand them to me with smiles on their unlined faces.  Does anyone even say "trip" anymore?

I am starting this blog because I don't have anyone to talk to about this and I imagine there are other women in the same boat.  My female friends are either much younger or are busy with their children or aren't the kind of women who talk openly about these sorts of things.  My husband is a physician but he's a geriatrician; all of his female patients come to him post-menopause (WAY post-menopause), so peri-menopause is mostly a theoretical concept to him.  Issues I plan to address:  sex after fifty, vaginal dryness, birth control, and so on.  Please feel free to contribute your own stories because many of you must be in the same boat (or have fond-ish memories, anyway).