The phone call sounded something like this, ” Hello, Karen, I have your blood test results, but first I want to wish you a Happy Birthday, ” said the nurse. “So here’s the news, you are officially in menopause!” Yikes, here I am in front of the local grocery store listening to the news, while people are walking by pushing grocery carts. I felt relieved in some ways, and ready to get on with the next stage of my life.
On the other hand I wanted to scream, “Wait, I have eleven year old twins to deal with, can this be true?” But I know all too well that becoming a first time Mom at age 45 was already pushing it. It’s been a heck of a week. I celebrated my 56th birthday, found out that I need cataract surgery and discovered that I am hormonally depleted!
This is the time of my life for some Mom maintenance. My body is changing and a few repairs are on the horizon. Getting older is going to happen whether I’m raising kids or not.
When I was on the baby track in my early forties, I was so focused on what the month would bring or not, or what the next fertility specialist would recommend, that I didn’t give much thought to what life would be like down the road 10 or 15 years later.
Mothering in midlife is a mixed bag. Only this one is forever. There are days when I don’t feel like dealing with kids and their attitudes or hauling them around in the minivan. I’ll let you in on a secret, there are times when I see women my age going out to lunch chatting the time away, while I’m rushing to get home for the school bus. I have to remind myself, we all make different choices, some sooner, some later.
Would I trade my life as it is now for those days of wondering and waiting to know if I would ever become a Mom? Not a chance. I’ll just take it as it comes, keep up with the maintenance and in the meantime, enjoy the fall weather while celebrating my 56th birthday!