Day 14, June 2

(This is a different kind of post.  If you are bothered by strong language or the subject of elder abuse, I suggest you skip it.)

Around the time that women are dealing with menopause, they frequently find themselves helping aging parents as well.  This can be a joyful time.  It can also be filled with stress and pain. 

My sweet father was a generous and good man.  However, in his later years, he developed a kind of dementia that made him vulnerable to unscrupulous people who fleeced him of many of his assets. 

One day, I'd had enough of a particular woman who was taking advantage of my vulnerable father.  (She had taken thousands upon thousands of dollars from him.)  I told her, "Victoria, you're a whore."  Lest you think this is too strong, you may remember that the word "whore" is used in the scriptures.  It described Victoria exactly.

This woman was not accustomed to anyone calling her on her behavior.  She drew herself up and said in a haughty voice, "You can't say that to me."

"I damn well can.  And I just did.  You're a whore.  And everyone knows it."  Everyone but my father, that is.

Victoria went whining to my sister Carla, saying, "Jane's making me sick."  If only.

Carla replied, "I can't control Jane.  I suggest you get out of her way because she's on the warpath."

So what does this incident have to do with menopause aside froom timing?  Ten years earlier, I wouldn't have stood up to this woman.  I would have been a good little Mormon wife and mother and grandmother and kept my thoughts to myself.  With menopause and hormones that had run amock, I had the courage and spunk to tell this woman just who and what she was.  You may or may not agree with my method. 

Sadly, Carla and I had to take my father to court for a competency hearing in order to protect him.  He was confused and hurt at what he saw as our betrayal.  My sister and I cried over the decision and I still wonder if we could have done something--anything--differently. 

Menopause gives us much to laugh about.  It also gives us some things to cry about.