Moments from Menopause

I've always taken good care of my skin. It started when I was in my twenties and started earning my own money through my nurse's salary. I'd rather buy face and skin lotions than new clothes. And did! In my 30's and 40's I was always the first person in my crowd to try new and improved products, like lotions labeled age-defying and youth in a bottle. In my later 40's and then 50's serums and self-professed wrinkle creams became the norm. You state the brand, I've tried it. These products don't come cheap, and just FYI, the older you get, the more expensive the products become. I really believe this is a marketing ploy by the manufacturers. Don't believe me? Go out and price Johnson's Baby lotion, and then get a price for Neutrogena products, which is also owned by J&J. Which products do you think are less expensive? Our skin is our largest organ. It acts to protect the underlying structures of our bodies as a first line of defense a...

Remember when you were about 14 years old and whenever your parents looked at you you'd either: a. fall into a tear streaming crisis b. scream at them to leave you alone c. want to curl up into a ball and hide or, d. want to run away from home? If you do, then you know how it feels to be in the moodaltering era of menopause. Yesterday I went postal on a telemarketer. Instead of simply hanging up like I usually do, I actually cut the woman off mid-schpeal and started demanding to know how she got my number, who did she think she was calling me when she didn't even know me, and I ended by telling her to get a real job and leave innocent people alone. The woman was calling from the Susan Koman Center for Breast Cancer research. When I scraped myself off the floor after landing there when I hung up the phone, I dried my voluminous tears, took a deep breath and said a prayer for forgiveness, vowing if the foundation ever called me again I'd make a sizable donation. I...