Society for Aesthetic Deletions

Wendi started it, Lisamarie continued it, and Meera responded. Then Kristen angled it, and now I'll take a stab at it.

I hit puberty late. Oh, I shot up in height early on, but the actual menstrual cycle started, IIRC, when I was 14. I had some problems being regular at first, but never any bad cramps or bloating or mood swings, other than the standard teenage ones. But not long after I started, I went on the pill.

No, I was not sexually active -- it was for my acne. My dermatologist recommended a very high estrogen birth control pill to clear up my awful acne problems. Fortunately (or at the time UNfortunately), it was limited to my face. I went to a gynecologist who REALLY didn't like the pill I was on, but she relented enough to let it help me through my high school years.

I had some experiences in college with bad cramps, and used to fake cramps in high school to get out of class, but it was never a really bad problem for me.

I used to never want children. That changed somewhat over the years, and my biological clock ticked awfully loudly for a brief period of time a few years ago, then has been quiescent. I want to have kids, and I realize that I'm getting old to start. But I'm enjoying my life now. To have kids would mean that my whole life would have to change (not only because of them, but because of the kind of parent I want to be), and Lou and I aren't ready for that yet. And I want a house of my own before I have kids. I was raised in one; it's how I want to raise my kids. Even if I have to share it with the bank for 30-50 years first.

I chatted with Anne while she was pregnant and afterwards, and one of the things she said she really didn't miss was the whole "monthly visit from Flo." I don't think I'd miss it at all, either. But I'm not ready to give up on the possibility of children...it's also likely the only way Lou's parents will have grandchildren, though Lou's brother's wife is 10 years younger than me. She's got plenty time to change her mind if she wants to have kids.

And I do think it'd be great for Will to have a playmate. But not just yet, alas, not just yet.

Maybe if we win Powerball on Saturday.

I don't mind being a woman, or all the crap that comes with it. Sure, I'd love equal pay and equal rights and everything, which means the good that comes with it as well as the bad. I also agree with Kristen - if men had to go through what we did each month, they'd have such trouble. There was a comedian who once joked that he would never trust a woman...something that bleeds for a week and doesn't die? Yeah...and if men got pregnant, maternity leave would last from the minute they found out until a year after the baby was born, and would be with full pay.

Umm...I don't know that this is saying what I want it to say, but I'm going to stop now