General Article Oily skin, body parts misbehaving: how perimenopause feels like puberty

Topic Selected: Fertility Book Volume: 460

My daughter and I are experiencing unwieldy, messy life transitions together. I’ve found comfort in it.

By Angela Garbes

In a couple of weeks I’ll be 47, and I’ve been surveying the emotional and physical landscape of my year. But in many ways, taking stock of myself has taken a backseat to thinking about my older child, who will turn 10 in a month. When I squint and angle my head just so, I can still see the infant in her: the high, smooth forehead; sparkling hazel eyes, which caught me off guard from the first moment I saw her; a furrowed brow that accompanies a preternatural thoughtfulness.

It’s been a big year for my kid. After getting the same haircut for seven years, she decided to grow out her bangs. While she still loves a graphic novel, she’s begun to burrow deep into lengthy novels. Her hips, thighs and torso have broadened. I can barely lift her, though I try. I cannot contain her in my arms, but thankfully she still likes to curl herself into me, her limbs and size-eight...

Would you like to see the rest of this article and all the other benefits that Issues Online can provide with?

Sign up now for a no obligation FREE TRIAL and view the entire collection