I came home from Auntie Jean's funeral a little gloomy, not so much from the death as the rain and my lack of sleep. It's been three weeks with one day off, which I spent cleaning my house. My new swimming hobby has kept me afloat. God, those puns are hard to avoid.

So I unfurled the blue mat and put on Body Electric for a little pre-work workout. Swimming is not only great exercise, but great motivation to tighten up all the exposed parts (I have a mid-winter speedo tan-line!). So on my dry days, I keep pumping up with Margaret Richard, who today recited her poem about her "current adventure".

A change in life? I couldn't agree more,
The hormones decline, and the hot flashes soar.
It's a chance for reinvention, to give the familiar a tweak,
To be resilient and resolute, to stand up and speak.
Next year I'll be 60, it's so new age and free,
It's life in prime time, and I hold the key.
My limits are mine, set only by me,

It's my privilege and choice to be all I can be.
I would like to un-mix her metaphor and offer - "It's life in prime time, and I hold the remote."
Yes, my trainer is in menopause. But like swimming with the old men at Temescal pool, I am reassured that there is plenty of time to get in shape.

PS. For my readers who love the Swedish techno, I have lately discovered The Knife which has replaced Adult. as my favorite creepy, dark yet occasionally danceable music. Crazy keyboards, freaky vocals, great lyrics, and no shortage of steel drums make the perfect soundtrack for a bad case of SAD