A list of things I've done the last five years, mostly chronologically

*the obvious--lived through my first pandemic. in 2020 I turned 43, my lucky number since age ten. sorry, y'all

*gained and lost somewhere between 15 and 20 pounds a few times 

*stopped writing and posting because I often felt like I was talking to myself

*started actually talking to myself because I was no longer writing

*entered the weird world of perimenopause, who knows when, but my biggest clues were missed periods and brain fog

*experienced five new york city autumns

*lost all color in my lips. no one warned me

*ordained two friends' weddings - one on a New York City stage and the other in a 16th century palace in Dubrovnik

*survived both altitude sickness and day two of my period at Machu Picchu

*ran from a burning stage at a lantern festival in a field outside of Chiang Mai

I wanted to include video footage but blogger is free and takes too long to load. You'd have been able to hear how shrill my voice is when I scream "Oh my gawwwwd!" . You really missed out. This is an old-school blog. I'm not worried about formatting or making it picture perfect. Expect mess! 

*slept in a bedouin tent and heard drummers bang into the night in a star-lit Senegalese desert

*nearly got blown into the sea at the Cliffs of Moher

*watched the sun rise like an electric clementine at Angkor Wat 

*forgot nearly everything that wasn't a big thing because I didn't write it down

*confirmed that my preferred brand of anxiety is existential. I blame Bonnie Raitt and the titular track from her spectacular album "Nick of Time", released in my early pre-teens, prompting me to run at half-speed from an invisible clock my entire life 

*made my brain fog worse by intensifying my relationship with various screens

*struggled with how to reintroduce myself in this space but have settled for now on "hey, I'm Jenn. i used to write about life as a young(er) woman and now I want to write about life as a middle-aged one. how are your periods?"

*decided this round I'm speaking directly to my midlife ladies so stories are likely to include vegetables, sun hats, backaches, reading glasses, acupuncturists, existential angst, new adventures, travel mishaps, future hopes and dreams, changes in breast shape and size, skincare, rom-coms and death. fellas, you're welcome to stick around but you'll notice I've already referred to periods three times and that's not stopping 

ok, I think we're all caught up

is this thing on?