At 53, Andrea Askowitz reckons with the effects of menopause on her athletic abilities, and struggles to keep up with her 12-year-old son.
I’ve been a runner my whole life. Until a year ago, I’d injured myself only once, while sliding, drunk, across a recently mopped floor. I never stretched growing up. Now, I have to do hula hoop circles to get to the bathroom in the morning.
On the Nature Channel, flowers age at warp speed with time-lapse photography. There’s a seedling, stem, closed bud, open bud, slight bow, dropped petals, shrinking stem, death. All in thirty seconds. Menopause is like this. At least for me. Puberty might accelerate the aging process this fast too, but at that age, I didn’t have the life experience to know any different. I had no perspective…
