My Asteroids

One of my favorite holidays has always been Thanksgiving. I especially love the day after even more. Jeff and I take the kids to his parents' house, go to Camelot Tree Farm, cut down our own tree, return home to start Christmatizing. I then have a turkey sandwich with lots of cranberries, a glass of egg nog (without the cheer), and then finish with the decorating.  We then turn off all the inside lights, save the Christmas tree and outside lights, and admire the beauty. We then pick up our children. When we turn down our street, and they begin to see the twinkling lights, their excitement turns to squeals. Magical! We are blessed to have huge windows in our old old house, so the sight is breath taking. This will all happen (I hope) according to plan this afternoon, but if the past couple of days is any indication of how today will turn out, I'm in for a ride!

It started early Wednesday morning. My depression took on a new low. Menopause sucks! Sucks, I tell you!!! It seems no matter what I did to try to put some light into my day, my mood kept getting sadder and darker as the day progressed. I had been preparing food all day to have Thanksgiving at my parents' house. This year, my lovely sister and her family spent it with us (she's from GA, so having her there was a real treat) along with Jeff's parents. Therefore, we all needed to be sure we had enough food, so the preparation would be taking me all day.

It was around 7:00 Wednesday night when I realized I had forgotten to pick up my hormone replacements from the pharmacy on Monday. I had been two days without it. (Now before anyone gets on my case about taking hormones, this is not estrogen. It's a bio-identical progesterone made from plants, and though there is no long-term studies about the risks of getting cancer from this bio-identical, not taking it would mean disaster for my family, my friends, my co-workers, and me...no fun!) So anyway, I realized this too late. The pharmacy was closed. Well then I started crying, and Jeff agreed I needed to figure out a way to get a hold of my pharmacist. I called their after hours hotline, and got a call from the pharmacist an hour later. While waiting for the call, I made my gluten-free pie crusts. I cannot understate the difficulty of making these pie crusts--they don't stick together, and what I had was a crumbling mess. Of course this didn't help my mood, and I cried even harder trying to press the crusts into the pie plates. Eventually I got it to work, and to be honest, it was the best pie crust I've ever had. Bar none! Tear-soaked and all!

Finally the pharmacist called and I explained my situation. I told him Jeff could meet him out at the clinic to pick up the medicine since he was on that side of town at the kids' karate class. He hesitated a few seconds, and I lost it--the crying started up again. Hearing my distress, he said he'd go out there and pick up the meds and drop them off at my house!!! Well, the blubbering increased. I knew there was a reason I liked this pharmacist more than any others in town. When he arrived, I threw my arms around him and said, "You've no idea what this means to me!"  And he gently said, "I think I do." Amazingly, he charged me only for the price of the prescriptions and nothing more.

Shortly after, Jeff and the kids arrived home. My oldest son said to me, "Dad told me about what's wrong. I'm so sorry about your asteroids." Well that snapped me out of it as only children can do! I laughed and laughed (and some crying mixed into that--I've had lots of practice). We had to explain that it was my hormones that were off kilter, and the hormone is called estrogen. Estrogen, asteroids....hmmmm....made sense to him.

So now as I sit here, Jeff is busily bringing up the decorations preparing for our day. I do know that today will be a wonderful day filled with beauty and love. I am so glad that I have a sense of humor about all this--warped as it may be. My wish for all of you is to have a safe, peaceful, and tear-free holiday. Cheers!