I am preoccupied with thoughts about menopause. I will be 45 tomorrow. My period is 12 days late. I am (or is it "was"?) always very regular. The only time I was ever this late was when I was pregnant.

I am the baby of the family. Not only the baby, but considerably younger than my only sibling (13 years). My grandmother was 60 when I was born. My mother was 35, my father 38.

I was born less than 2 weeks shy of the kindergarten cutoff date. If I was born on my due date, I would have graduated in '79 instead of '78. I was one of the youngest kids in my graduating class.

My nephew is 11 years younger than me, which makes us closer in age than I am to my sister. My father fought in World War II. My friends' parents were too young for that.

My teenage friends were all a year younger and 2 grades behind me. I didn't get my driver's license until I was almost 18.

Putting all this together illustrates why I am always shocked to notice the effects of aging on me. I have age spots because I loved to get tan in the summer. My skin is fair and I burned it every chance I could. I have ridges in my finger nails, just like an old lady. I have some gray hair, which I try to disguise by highlighting it. I highlight instead of an all out dye job because I am not willing to commit. One can give up highlighting without prior notice to the hair fairy.

So, it seems menopause is something one can only diagnose once one has finished. Along with the recent realization that I probably won't know what the date of my death is nor what I died from, menopause is going to be almost as secretive.

I use the bathroom and note that nothing is going on in my reproductive tract. Today, my migraine situation is still bothering me. Some folks are "cured" of migraine attacks once past menopause. Guess what I'm thinking? Yup, I will be one of those who doesn't get "cured".

Happy Thanksgiving.