I’m All Out of Vices
A Tale of Involuntary Clean Living
February of 2020 proved to be the convergence of a lot of change. The big one we all know. That one is still impacting our lives over three years later.
But little did I know that would also be the final act of my monthly cycle. Yep, February 2020 was the official start of my menopause. Since menopause is defined by going a full year without a period, I could only know that February 2020 was the last one twelve months later. Had I known I might have lit a candle. Baked a cake. Held a Bon Voyage party.
What I also didn’t know in February 2020 was that it would be the last time my hairdresser and dear friend would put color in my hair. I began growing out my gray roots in those strange COVID times and just kept going. I’m still not sure I embrace my gray, but it’s mine.
Turns out February 2020 was a significant inflection point for the world and for me.
My monthly cycles had always been at best uneasy and at worst downright awful. They were so regular I could set a watch by them, but in my early twenties I was diagnosed with mittleschmerz which is just a German way of saying ‘middle pain.’
This meant very painful ovulations in the middle of each cycle. This pain would last my entire adult life. Bonus? I always knew when I was…
