Just for the record, I want to make it perfectly clear that they are Thermal Incidents.

They are NOT hot flashes or night sweats, They Are Thermal Incidents.

And, well, I experienced my first Thermal Incidents this week.

Woke up around 5 a.m. on Tuesday morning covered in sweat. I figured that the spousal unit had tossed an extra blanket on the bed and felt around for it so I could toss it off.

No extra blanket.

I laid there in the dark and thought it over.

"Okay," I told myself. "One random incident. Doesn't mean anything."

Then, this morning, the same experience.

My, my, my.

Now, it's not like I haven't been expecting this because I am half ways to my 52nd birthday. In my head I know this is a natural transition and I'm right at the average age when this transition begins.

I'd be lying, though, if I didn't admit that the prospect of this has not exactly been thrilling me because some of my friends have had very rough rides into menopause.

"So what woke you up so early this morning?" the spousal unit asked when he came in from his workshop for a mid-morning coffee break with me.

"I think I'm having night sweats," I said as casually as I could.

There was a little pause while he digested this information.

Now here is a tip for any tripods who might be among my three loyal readers. I don't care how long you of the Y chromosome persuasion have been married to or involved with someone, or how sure you've tried to make that person feel of your love. Take it from me, there is simply no such thing as Too Much Reassurance.

He looked at me over the rim of his coffee cup, gave me a grin and said, "You? Hot flashes? Night sweats? Nahhhhhh. Thermal Incidents. You're having thermal incidents."

I love it that he made me laugh.

If this had happened last year, I would have begun hormone replacement therapy. However, after years of encouraging middle-aged women to do just that, the latest studies are linking estrogen supplements to cancer.

I'm willing to eat right, and I'm willing to exercise to try to hold the fort together as long as possible. Am I willing to do something that puts me at risk of a terrible illness just to stave off one of the effects of aging for a few years?

Nuh uh.

Thermal incidents, here I come.

Can outrageous hats and a purple wardrobe be far behind?

--Marn

P.S.--If you're doing any of your Christmas shopping at Amazon this year, why not do it through Blue Sphere? Five per cent of what you spend will be donated by Amazon to Blue Sphere, and will be given to the Foster Parents Plan of Canada.

Yep, you get to make a large corporation cough up five per cent of its profits AND at no cost to yourself you get to help some poor kids out. What's not to love about that, eh?