I think I’m losing my mind. Seriously. I used to be a compulsive organizer and proud of it. The spices in my spice rack were placed in alphabetical order from anise to turmeric. My closet was color coordinated along with the contents in my under ware drawer. Shoes fit snugly in shoe trees according to heel length and seasonal use. And all of my photo albums were neatly labeled and shelved in chronological order. Freakish to some, but at least I wasn’t cultivating a dust bunny farm.
I was never late for a function, and I could easily juggle work with the kids’ karate/cheerleading/gymnastics/choir/ballet classes effortlessly while entertaining company and serving up a homemade five course meal Martha Stewart style. Wonder Woman had nothing on me.
And then something changed when I entered my menopausal years. It started with the keys. Took me thirty minutes one morning to find them…in the refrigerator between the yogurt and an old bag of potatoes that were starting to grow roots. I kept forgetting to throw them out—something the pre-menopausal me never would have done. The keys? I swear I didn’t leave them in the refrigerator. Surely someone was playing a prank on me—had to be my mischievous kids playing that “Lets-Drive-Mom-Crazy-Until-She -Is -Willing-To-Increase-Our-Allowance-And-Never-Make-Us -Clean-Our-Rooms-Again,” game.
My glasses disappeared the following week and I walked around like a blind mole bumping into furniture and eating what I thought was a brownie but turned out to be a charcoal briquet. How do you find glasses if you need your glasses to find them?
It wasn’t long before I was forgetting appointments with my hairdresser (which explains why my hair looked and felt like worn out Brillo pad). It also explains why the last time I showed up at the doctor’s office to get my cavity filled for a tooth that ached, the nurse reminded me I was there for a colonoscopy and that yes, they were certainly going to fill a cavity while I was there.
What the hell was happening to me? Did all the crazy, drunken weekends from my college years really destroy THAT many brain cells ( I knew that weekend in St. Louis with my sorority sisters was going to cause some long term damage some day)?
Continue reading this post on Marcia Kester Doyle’s blog, Menopausal Mom
Marcia @Menopausal Mother
Friday 22nd of November 2013
Too funny! That pretty much sums up Middle age!
Lisha Fink
Thursday 21st of November 2013
Wow. Motherhood stole my nice rack, and now menopause is gunning for my brain.
Pat
Friday 15th of November 2013
Marcia, too funny, but seriously, you were once a compulsive organizer. What about those of us who don't have an organized gene in our bodies?
Marcia @Menopausal Mother
Friday 15th of November 2013
Ohhh I don't know how I could survive without some organization in my life. But then agin out of 6 of us in the family, 3 have A.D.D. and it has always driven me crazy trying to keep THEM organized as well!
Diane
Wednesday 13th of November 2013
Bwahahaha! I have only one question. How did you discover you were eating a charcoal briquet? And is that a reflection on your brownie-making? Okay, two questions . . .
Marcia @Menopausal Mother
Thursday 14th of November 2013
Correct! I burned them because I am blind without my glasses!
Sarah Almond
Tuesday 12th of November 2013
Wait-you mean it gets WORSE????? Oh crap, little ADD me shall surely lose my head! ;-)
Marcia @ Menopausal Mother
Tuesday 12th of November 2013
Wine has been steadily helping me lose my mind as well….